Several family members of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were killed in an airplane crash Friday in the south of England, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Britain confirmed Saturday.

In a message on Twitter in Arabic, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud offered his condolences to the Bin Laden family, and said that Saudi authorities will work with the British to repatriate the victims' bodies.


"His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud... has paid his condolences to the family and relatives of Mohammed bin Laden at Blackbushe airport in Britain for the great loss they have suffered as a result of the crash of the plane that was carrying the family," the message said, according to BBC News.

Four people - three passengers and the pilot - died Friday when their private jet crashed and exploded in the English town of Yateley in Hampshire county while attempting to land at Blackbushe Airport.

According to the latest reports, the plane, an Embraer Phenom 300 made in Brazil, crashed against a British Car Auctions building as it was coming in for a landing.

The private jet had taken off from Milan, the Italian airport said, and, according to BBC News, it belonged to an aviation company owned by the Bin Laden family, which has a business empire in Saudi Arabia.

Three passengers and the pilot lost their lives when the plane crashed and exploded, but there were no victims on the ground, local police said.

British authorities together with the Saudis are now investigating the exact causes of the crash, while taking measures to repatriate the bodies to the Arab nation as soon as possible.

The family of Osama bin Laden, who was slain by the United States in 2011 in Pakistan, is originally from Yemen, but the father Mohammed moved to Saudi Arabia early in the 20th century and built a business empire there in the construction sector.

According to the BBC, Mohammed bin Laden, who died in a plane crash in 1968, had many wives and is estimated to have had at least 50 children, including Osama bin Laden, who was disinherited after organizing the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in the United States. EFE