LONDON >> Three relatives of the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden were among four people killed when a private jet crashed on landing in southern England, British police confirmed Saturday.

The Hampshire Police force said formal post-mortems were still being conducted, but the victims were believed to be “the mother, sister and brother-in-law of the owner of the aircraft, all of whom are from the bin Laden family.” It said all three were Saudi nationals who were visiting Britain on vacation. The plane’s Jordanian pilot also died.

Arab media and NBC News named the relatives as Osama Bin Laden’s stepmother Rajaa Hashim, his sister Sana bin Laden and her husband Zuhair Hashim.

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdel-Aziz, offered his condolences to the wealthy bin Laden family, which owns a major construction company in Saudi Arabia.

“The embassy will follow up on the incident and its circumstances with the concerned British authorities and work on speeding up the handover of the bodies of the victims to the kingdom for prayer and burial,” the ambassador said in a statement tweeted by the embassy.

Police said the Embraer Phenom 300 executive jet crashed into a parking lot and burst into flames while trying to land at Blackbushe Airport in southern England Friday afternoon.

The plane was flying from Malpensa Airport in Milan to the airfield about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of London, which is used by private planes and flying clubs.

No one on the ground was hurt. Police and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch launched a joint investigation.

Andrew Thomas, who was at a car auction sales center based at the airport, told the BBC that “the plane nosedived into the cars and exploded on impact.” He said he saw the plane and several cars in flames.

The plane’s pilot was Mazen Salem al-Dajah, a Jordanian in his late 50s. His brother Ziad told The Associated Press that al-Dajah’s family had been told of his death by a representative of the bin Laden family’s corporation. He said al-Dajah received his pilot’s license in California about 25 years ago and had been employed by the bin Laden family.

The bin Laden family disowned Osama in 1994 when Saudi Arabia stripped him of his citizenship because of his militant activities. The al-Qaida leader was killed by U.S. special forces in Pakistan in 2011.

The family is a large and wealthy one. Osama bin Laden’s billionaire father Mohammed had more than 50 children and founded the Binladen Group, a sprawling construction conglomerate awarded many major building contracts in the Sunni kingdom.

Mohammed bin Laden died in a plane crash in Saudi Arabia in 1967. One of his sons, Salem, was killed when his ultralight aircraft flew into power lines in San Antonio, Texas, in 1988.

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Gambrell reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.

LONDON >> Three relatives of the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden were among four people killed when a private jet crashed on landing in southern England, British police confirmed Saturday.

The Hampshire Police force said formal post-mortems were still being conducted, but the victims were believed to be “the mother, sister and brother-in-law of the owner of the aircraft, all of whom are from the bin Laden family.” It said all three were Saudi nationals who were visiting Britain on vacation. The plane’s Jordanian pilot also died.

Arab media and NBC News named the relatives as Osama Bin Laden’s stepmother Rajaa Hashim, his sister Sana bin Laden and her husband Zuhair Hashim.

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdel-Aziz, offered his condolences to the wealthy bin Laden family, which owns a major construction company in Saudi Arabia.

“The embassy will follow up on the incident and its circumstances with the concerned British authorities and work on speeding up the handover of the bodies of the victims to the kingdom for prayer and burial,” the ambassador said in a statement tweeted by the embassy.

Police said the Embraer Phenom 300 executive jet crashed into a parking lot and burst into flames while trying to land at Blackbushe Airport in southern England Friday afternoon.

The plane was flying from Malpensa Airport in Milan to the airfield about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of London, which is used by private planes and flying clubs.

No one on the ground was hurt. Police and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch launched a joint investigation.

Andrew Thomas, who was at a car auction sales center based at the airport, told the BBC that “the plane nosedived into the cars and exploded on impact.” He said he saw the plane and several cars in flames.

The plane’s pilot was Mazen Salem al-Dajah, a Jordanian in his late 50s. His brother Ziad told The Associated Press that al-Dajah’s family had been told of his death by a representative of the bin Laden family’s corporation. He said al-Dajah received his pilot’s license in California about 25 years ago and had been employed by the bin Laden family.

The bin Laden family disowned Osama in 1994 when Saudi Arabia stripped him of his citizenship because of his militant activities. The al-Qaida leader was killed by U.S. special forces in Pakistan in 2011.

The family is a large and wealthy one. Osama bin Laden’s billionaire father Mohammed had more than 50 children and founded the Binladen Group, a sprawling construction conglomerate awarded many major building contracts in the Sunni kingdom.

Mohammed bin Laden died in a plane crash in Saudi Arabia in 1967. One of his sons, Salem, was killed when his ultralight aircraft flew into power lines in San Antonio, Texas, in 1988.

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Gambrell reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.

AGOURA HILLS >> A 70-year-old man was killed Friday and a second person was injured in a two-vehicle collision in Agoura Hills involving a Los Angeles County Fire Department vehicle.

The collision occurred about 5 p.m. on Mulholland Highway near Kanan Dume Road, according to a county fire department dispatcher.

The vehicle that collided with the fire department truck, described as a camp crew carrier, went off the side of the road and firefighters cut its roof off to free someone trapped inside, according to reports from the scene. It’s unclear if that was the deceased victim or the person who was injured.

A fire department dispatcher said the injured person was taken to a hospital for treatment, but that person’s gender, age and condition were not immediately available.

The firefighter driving the crew carrier was uninjured, but there were at least 15 inmates from Fire Camp 13 in Malibu riding in the vehicle and they were being assessed for injuries, said Ed Pickett, a county fire department dispatch supervisor.

The crew carrier had damage to its front end, while the other vehicle appeared to have been struck on its side.

The crash closed Mulholland Highway in both directions and a SigAlert was issued, according to the CHP.

Kanan Dume Road was also closed at the intersection with Mulholland, the CHP reported.

AGOURA HILLS >> A 70-year-old man was killed Friday and a second person was injured in a two-vehicle collision in Agoura Hills involving a Los Angeles County Fire Department vehicle.

The collision occurred about 5 p.m. on Mulholland Highway near Kanan Dume Road, according to a county fire department dispatcher.

The vehicle that collided with the fire department truck, described as a camp crew carrier, went off the side of the road and firefighters cut its roof off to free someone trapped inside, according to reports from the scene. It’s unclear if that was the deceased victim or the person who was injured.

A fire department dispatcher said the injured person was taken to a hospital for treatment, but that person’s gender, age and condition were not immediately available.

The firefighter driving the crew carrier was uninjured, but there were at least 15 inmates from Fire Camp 13 in Malibu riding in the vehicle and they were being assessed for injuries, said Ed Pickett, a county fire department dispatch supervisor.

The crew carrier had damage to its front end, while the other vehicle appeared to have been struck on its side.

The crash closed Mulholland Highway in both directions and a SigAlert was issued, according to the CHP.

Kanan Dume Road was also closed at the intersection with Mulholland, the CHP reported.

A three-car crash has backed up the bypass lane on the southbound 15 Freeway in the Cajon Pass prompting a SigAlert, officials said.

According to reports the crash happened around 11:30 a.m. just south of Highway 138.

It’s unclear when California Highway Patrol will lift the SigAlert or if any injuries resulted from the crash.

A three-car crash has backed up the bypass lane on the southbound 15 Freeway in the Cajon Pass prompting a SigAlert, officials said.

According to reports the crash happened around 11:30 a.m. just south of Highway 138.

It’s unclear when California Highway Patrol will lift the SigAlert or if any injuries resulted from the crash.

BEAUMONT – An adult and a child in a Toyota Corolla were killed in a three-vehicle collision in Beaumont and two other children in the car were injured, police said today.

The children were hospitalized in serious-to-critical condition, Beaumont Police Department Cmdr. Greg Fagan.

The driver of a Ford pickup truck that was also involved in the collision was also hospitalized, but his condition was not known, Fagan said.

The collision occurred at 2:09 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of Beaumont Avenue and First Street, Fagan said.

The Toyota Corolla was struck by the Ford pickup truck and then collided with a Dodge pickup, Fagan said.

The cause of the accident was under investigation, Fagan said.

BEAUMONT – An adult and a child in a Toyota Corolla were killed in a three-vehicle collision in Beaumont and two other children in the car were injured, police said today.

The children were hospitalized in serious-to-critical condition, Beaumont Police Department Cmdr. Greg Fagan.

The driver of a Ford pickup truck that was also involved in the collision was also hospitalized, but his condition was not known, Fagan said.

The collision occurred at 2:09 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of Beaumont Avenue and First Street, Fagan said.

The Toyota Corolla was struck by the Ford pickup truck and then collided with a Dodge pickup, Fagan said.

The cause of the accident was under investigation, Fagan said.

WASHINGTON >> The National Transportation Safety Board concluded Tuesday that the developer of a commercial spacecraft that broke apart over the Mojave Desert last year failed to protect against the possibility of human error, specifically the co-pilot’s premature unlocking of a braking system that triggered the in-flight breakup of the vehicle.

In its finding, the board took pains to make clear that Scaled Composites, an aerospace company that has partnered with Virgin Galactic to develop the spacecraft, should have had systems in place to overcome the co-pilot’s mistake.

The Federal Aviation Administration was also faulted in its role of determining whether Scaled Composites should get permits for flight tests, and the board recommended several steps to improve the FAA’s oversight of private companies involved in commercial space transportation.

The recommendations included assigning FAA staff to individual operators instead of individual flights. That way, they have more time to become familiar with the training and operational controls that they’re charged with inspecting. An FAA spokesman said the agency takes the findings and recommendations seriously and will respond in more detail within 90 days.

NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said he didn’t believe Scaled Composites took shortcuts that compromised the spacecraft’s safety. Rather, he said, it simply didn’t consider that the crew would make the mistake that occurred.

“The assumption was these highly trained test pilots would not make mistakes in those areas, but truth be told, humans are humans,” Hart said after the hearing’s conclusion. “And even the best-trained human on their best day can make mistakes.”

The accident occurred during SpaceShipTwo’s fourth rocket-powered test flight. At the time of the accident, Scaled Composites was responsible for SpaceShipTwo’s flight test program under a contract with Virgin Galactic.

At the onset of the hearing, investigators told the board that the co-pilot, Michael Alsbury, prematurely unlocked the braking system and the resulting forces caused the brakes to actually be applied even without a command from the crew. The unique braking system includes twin tails that extend on booms from each wing. When activated they rotate upward to create drag, slowing and stabilizing the spaceship for re-entry into the thin upper atmosphere. They are called “feathers” because they function like feathers on a badminton shuttlecock.

The premature applying of the braking system at that speed and elevation created stress that caused the ship to break-up, though Hart said that protections have been put in place since.

“We are confident that the steps they have taken would prevent this accident from happening,” Hart said.

The spaceship broke apart over the Mojave Desert during a test flight 10 months ago. The accident killed Alsbury and seriously injured the pilot, Peter Siebold.

In determining the probable cause of the accident, board members were focused on how well officials prepared for the worst. NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said Scaled Composites “put all their eggs in the basket of the pilots doing it correctly.”

“My point is that a single-point human failure has to be anticipated,” Sumwalt said. “The system has to be designed to compensate for the error.”

In a statement after the hearing, Scaled Composites said safety has always been a critical part of the company’s culture.

“We have already made changes in the wake of the accident to further enhance safety. We will continue to look for additional ways to do so. We extensively supported the NTSB’s investigation and appreciate all of its work to make the industry safer,” the company’s statement read.

Hart said he hoped the investigation will prevent such an accident from happening again. He said the NTSB learned “with a high degree of certainty the events that resulted in the breakup.”

“Many of the safety issues that we will hear about today arose not from the novelty of a space launch test flight, but from human factors that were already known elsewhere in transportation,” Hart said.

Virgin Galactic has been proceeding with its plans for space flight and is now building another craft. Company officials have said in recent months that their commitment to commercial spacecraft has not wavered despite the crash and they expect the company to resume test flights later this year. Eventually, the company envisions flights with six passengers climbing more than 62 miles above Earth.

In a statement issued after the hearing, Virgin Galactic said it has assumed full responsibility for the completion of the flight test program. It emphasized the Scaled Composites was responsible for SpaceShipTwo’s flight-test program.

“We remain as humbled as ever by the difficulty of our work and the challenges of space,” said Virgin Galactic CEO George T. Whitesides. “To date, only 549 people have gone to space, and we are as passionate and resolved as ever to increase that number.”

“It is important that our collective efforts and sacrifices are not in vain but serve to inspire others to make big dreams come true,” said Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group’s founder.