BEVERLY HILLS, October 28, (THEWILL) – A helicopter that crashed on Saturday near the stadium of UK football club Leicester City belonged to Thai owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, a report said.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was in the helicopter when it came down on Saturday, a source close to the family has told the BBC.
Leicester had drawn 1-1 against West Ham United at the King Power Stadium and Srivaddhanaprabha was in attendance.
Thai businessman Srivaddhanaprabha, who has poured millions into the club, often leaves the stadium in his helicopter, which takes off from the pitch, when he attends a Leicester home game.
Under his ownership, Leicester City won the Premier League in 2016, having started the season as 5,000/1 outsiders.
The helicopter crashed in the club’s car park close to its King Power Stadium following Saturday’s Premier League game against West Ham.
Sky Sports said the helicopter took off from the pitch between 8.30pm-8.45pm local time (1930-1945 GMT) but developed problems shortly afterwards with its tail rotor.
One witness said it appeared “the tail propeller wasn’t working, putting it into a spin”.
In the early hours of Sunday, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service’s Assistant Chief Fire OfficerAndrew Brodie tweeted that he had just left “multiagency strategic meetings” at Leicestershire Police’s HQ.
Freelance photographer Ryan Brown was covering the game and saw the helicopter clear the King Power Stadium before it crashed.
He told BBC Radio Leicester: “The engine stopped and I turned round and it made a bit of a whirring noise, like a grinding noise.
“The helicopter just went silent, I turned round and it was just spinning, out of control. And then there was a big bang and then [a] big fireball.”
One witness said he saw Leicester player Kasper Schmeichel run out of the stadium towards the scene of the crash.
It is not known how many other people were on board the helicopter.
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