Helicopter data found after crash

FLIGHT data and voice recordings from the helicopter which crashed outside Leicester City’s stadium have been successfully downloaded, as the wreckage was moved to a specialist facility.

Club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was among five people killed in the accident on Saturday night.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said it was able to obtain information from the AW169 helicopter’s black box despite it being subject to “intense heat” in the post-accident fire.

Inspectors have begun a detailed analysis of the data as they attempt to find out what caused the aircraft - made by Somerset-based Leonardo - to plunge to the ground shortly after take-off.

The AAIB carefully lifted the wreckage from the crash site near Leicester City’s King Power Stadium on Thursday night. It has been moved to the investigators’ headquarters in Farnborough, Hampshire, for a more detailed examination.

Footage taken from inside the ground shows the helicopter taking off from the pitch and climbing above the height of the stands when it begins spinning before plunging out of view on Saturday evening.

The AAIB praised people who responded to its witness appeal and said investigators are examining videos and photographs of the flight.

The four victims killed alongside Mr Vichai were employees Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, pilot Eric Swaffer and his partner, Izabela Roza Lechowicz, who was also a professional pilot.

Thai media reported that the club owner’s body has arrived in Bangkok ahead of his funeral.

Leicester boss Claude Puel has said he would give the players the opportunity to travel to Thailand for the funeral.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the crash, striker Jamie Vardy told Sky Sports News: “It’ll be massively important we attend. We are a close-knit group and one big family and one of the main reasons for that is Vichai, so it’s massively important.”

He added: “He wasn’t just a chairman, he literally was part of your extended family.

“It didn’t matter who you were, he always made time for you, and, as all the pictures that have been put out have shown, he was always smiling.

“Those are the things you will never forget and which will stay engraved in your mind.”