Chronicle Editor
Leicester City’s owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, died in the helicopter crash outside the club’s stadium on Saturday, it was confirmed on Sunday night by the club.
He was one of five people killed – all onboard the helicopter – when the accident occurred around an hour after the club’s draw at home to West Ham United. The Thai owner’s helicopter crashed near a car park by the south-east corner of the stadium shortly after taking off from the pitch at around 8.20pm.
“It is with the deepest regret and a collective broken heart that we confirm our chairman, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, was among those to have tragically lost their lives on Saturday evening when a helicopter carrying him and four other people crashed outside King Power Stadium. None of the five people on-board survived,” read a club statement.
“The primary thoughts of everyone at the club are with the Srivaddhanaprabha family and the families of all those on-board at this time of unspeakable loss. In Khun Vichai the world has lost a great man. A man of kindness, of generosity and a man whose life was defined by the love he devoted to his family and those he so successfully led. Leicester City was a family under his leadership. It is as a family that we will grieve his passing and maintain the pursuit of a vision for the club that is now his legacy.”
Leicestershire police have named the other four passengers as Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, both members of Vichai’s staff, pilot Eric Swaffer and passenger Izabela Roza Lechowicz.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is leading the investigation into the accident and a cordon remains in place at the scene while inquiries continue.
“This is an incredibly tragic incident in which five people are understood to have lost their lives,” Supt Steve Potter said. “Emergency services were immediately on scene when the crash happened, working to put out the fire and gain access to the helicopter in attempts to reach those inside. Despite those efforts, there were no survivors.”
Vichai, 60, was a hugely popular figure at Leicester, having bought the club for £39m in 2010. With his backing the club won the Premier League in 2016 for the first time in its history, defying the odds of 5,000-1.
The self-made billionaire and father of four was also respected locally for his charity work, having donated £2m to Leicester Children’s Hospital. His surname, meaning “light of progressive glory” in Thai, had been bestowed on him by King Bhumibol, the former monarch of Thailand, in recognition of his corporate and social responsibility programmes.
Vichai regularly left home matches in his Augusta AW169 helicopter and on Saturday he was due to travel in it to Luton Airport prior to taking his private jet to Thailand.
Eyewitness reports indicated that the helicopter only just cleared the roof of the stands, stayed in the air briefly then spiralled down to earth after reportedly developing a fault with its tail rotor. The aircraft crashed and erupted into flames after impact where it lay on land owned by the club, near a car park used by Leicester’s staff, which was empty at the time.
Emergency services rushed to the scene to tackle the fire and search the wreckage, with the area eventually cordoned off by Leicestershire police.
Witnesses praised Swaffer, who was at the controls when the helicopter crashed, as a hero for guiding it away from crowds on the ground. His LinkedIn page lists extensive flying experience dating back to 1989, including a period at easyJet before he became a contract pilot.
Lechowicz was also a professional pilot, and she and Swaffer lived together in Camberley, Surrey. She had moved to the UK from Poland in 1997 and was recently selected for her profession by her country’s embassy in London as one of 18 inspirational Polish women.
Guardian
Bongani Ndlovu
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