Billionaire among five dead after helicopter ‘dropped like a stone’
Thai owner among five killed as aircraft falls out of the sky and explodes seconds after take-off
LEICESTER City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was among five people on board a helicopter that crashed and then exploded at his football stadium after it took off from the pitch.
Also on board were two pilots and one other person whose identities were not immediately known.
There was no confirmation that anyone on board survived, a source said.
Vichai, a father of four and founder of duty-free giant King Power International, was a huge favourite with the club’s fans after he bought the unfancied side in 2010 and financed them as they went on to stun the soccer world by beating odds of 5,000/1 to win the Premier League title in 2016.
The helicopter spiralled out of control and crashed shortly after taking off around an hour after the game against West Ham. It came down yards from the King Power Stadium’s grandstands in a club car park.
City manager Claude Puel was not on the helicopter.
According to witnesses, the helicopter had barely cleared the top of the stadium before it started to spin. It then plummeted to the ground and burst into flames.
John Butcher, who was near the stadium at the time of the crash, said his nephew saw the helicopter spiral out of control, apparently due to a faulty rear propeller.
“Within a second it dropped like a stone to the floor,” he said. “Luckily, it did spiral for a little while and everybody sort of ran, sort of scattered. As far as we are aware, nobody around the car park was caught up in this problem.”
Sky Sports News cameraman Dan Cox said: “I don’t know how the pilot did it but he seemed to manage to slow down the spinning rotation and it drifted off into the corner part of the car park.”
Andrew Wilson (54), a season ticketholder whose partner works for Leicester City, said: “It had crashed between the two staff car parks. I don’t know if the pilot needs some recognition for that. He’s brought it down and it’s either fate or an act of bravery.”
Photographer Ryan Brown was covering the game and saw the helicopter clear the stadium before it crashed.
“Literally the engine stopped and I turned around, and it made a bit of a whirring noise,” Mr Brown said. “It turned silent, blades started spinning and then there was a big bang.”
The helicopter, built in Italy, is said to have a good safety record. Pilot error was blamed when a similar model struck a crane attached to St George Wharf Tower in Vauxhall, south London in January 2013.
Tribute
Hundreds of fans laid flowers, football shirts and scarves outside the stadium in tribute to Vichai yesterday.
“He’s put so much money into the club. He has brought the club up from receivership, put the money in, built the team, won the Premiership,” 68-year-old fan Richard Mobbs said. “The future is looking bright or at least it was.”
According to Forbes magazine, Vichai is the fifth-richest person in Thailand with an estimated fortune of €4.3bn.
The self-made businessman’s duty-free company, founded in 1989, was granted an airport monopoly in 2006 under the government of prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It continued to prosper even after Mr Thaksin’s ousting in a coup that year.
The family’s empire also includes Belgian football club, Oud-Heverlee Leuven.
Leading Leicester players, including Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire, sent messages of support on Twitter while rival clubs including Manchester City voiced their concern.
Sport Paul Hayward: Leicester fans paying respects need no reminding how fragile life and the good times are