Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Leicester City Owner Helicopter Crashes
Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s helicopter has crashed after the Premier League football match against West Ham on Saturday night, leading to fears there would be no survivors.At around 8.38pm, an hour after the match finished, Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s helicopter took off from the King Power Stadium and then plunged down, eyewitnesses claim, before crashing in the car park near the south-east corner of the ground and erupting in a ball of flames.While there was no official statement immediately forthcoming about who was on board, or their condition, the BBC reported a source close to the Srivaddhanaprabha family as saying the club’s 60-year-old chairman was on the helicopter. However, the news had yet to be confirmed early on Sunday.Emergency services rushed to the scene and Leicester players and staff, including their goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, former Leicester and England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and distressed supporters were seen in tears as the fire raged near the car park.
It is understood that it took more than 20 minutes for the flames to be extinguished before emergency services were able to survey the wreckage.
There were unconfirmed reports the accident was a result of a mechanical failure but details were still scarce late on Saturday night.
However, it was understood that Leicester’s vice-chairman, Aiy-awatt Srivaddhanaprabha, who is the owner Vichai’s son, was not present at Saturday’s game.
