Bin Laden family plane crash: Blackbushe Airport reopens

An airport that was closed after a private jet crashed killing three members of Osama Bin Laden's family has reopened.

The plane came down near Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire on Friday, killing the pilot and all three passengers.

The airport reopened at 08:00 BST after it was shut over the weekend to allow for investigations.

The Saudi Arabian embassy in London said it was working with the British authorities to repatriate the bodies.

In a statement, the Saudi ambassador to the UK, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud, offered condolences to the Bin Laden family.

Aviation enthusiast Geoff Pierce took this photograph of the aircraft moments before it crashed

The Bin Laden family severed ties with Osama before disowning him after the 11 September attacks

The Bin Laden family tree

• Osama Bin Laden's father Mohammed was originally from Yemen and moved to Saudi Arabia in the 1910s

• He became the head of a construction empire that is behind some of the biggest building projects in Saudi Arabia

• Mohammed Bin Laden, who died in a plane crash in 1968, had many wives, and is estimated to have had at least 50 children

• His eldest son, Salem Bin Laden, also died in a plane crash in Texas in 1988

• The Bin Laden family - many of whom live in the US - severed ties with Osama before disowning him after the 11 September attacks

The private jet crashed into a British Car Auctions site

The plane - an Embraer Phenom 300 - is reported to have belonged to an aviation firm owned by the Saudi-based family of the former al-Qaeda leader.

The plane, which was arriving from Milan, Italy, crashed into a British Car Auctions site at the airfield, exploding on impact.

The auction firm is contacting customers after about 30 vehicles were caught up in the blast.

Hampshire police said it believed three of the dead to be the mother, sister and brother-in-law of the owner of the aircraft, all of whom are from the Bin Laden family.

A force spokesperson said the Saudi Arabian nationals were visiting the UK on holiday.

Police are carrying out a joint investigation with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

The airport, in Yateley, said the jet had crashed near the end of the runway while attempting to make a landing.