Bodies of bin Laden relatives were ‘incinerated’ in plane crash

The bodies of the relatives of Osama bin Laden were “incinerated” when the private jet they were flying in crash-landed at a car auction site, a coroner has said.

Andrew Bradley, coroner for North Hampshire, has opened and adjourned an inquest at Basingstoke into the deaths of the three members of the bin Laden family and their pilot from Jordan.

The Saudi-registered Phenom 300 jet was attempting to land at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, on Friday, when it crashed on to dozens of cars and burst into flames.

Mr Bradley confirmed the identities of the three members of bin Laden’s family as his stepmother Raja Bashir Hashem, 75, her daughter, Sana bin Laden, 53, and Zouheir Anuar Hashem, 56. The Jordanian pilot was 58-year-old Mazen Salim Alqasim, Bradley said.

Bradley said: “The bodies were incinerated but I cannot tell you any more than that about how they died at this stage.”

The inquest was adjourned for a preliminary hearing on September 3 but Bradley said a full hearing would not be heard for at least nine months.

Hampshire Police, which is jointly investigating the accident, earlier confirmed that the three passengers on board the plane were members of the large and wealthy bin Laden family, from Saudi Arabia, who were visiting the UK on holiday.