Leicester City owner’s helicopter crashes near stadium

0

The Leicester City owner’s helicopter has crashed in a car park outside the club’s ground shortly after taking off following a match.

It is not known if Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was in the helicopter at the time.

Leicester City had been playing West Ham United in the Premier League at their King Power stadium.

Pictures from the ground showed a large fire in the car park, which has since been put out.
BBC football commentator Ian Stringer said the helicopter was “spiralling”, and that eyewitnesses said it “came down like a stone”.

He said: “I’ve seen the backroom staff of the first team in tears, the reception area is silent with people just crying.”

Sky Sports News reporter Rob Dorsett said the helicopter took off from the pitch, as it does after every game.

He said that after a few seconds it appeared to lose control and crashed into the car park just a few hundred metres away.

One witness said it appeared “the tail propeller wasn’t working, putting it into a spin”.

Freelance photographer Ryan Brown was covering the game and saw the helicopter clear the King Power stadium before it crashed.

He told 5 Live: “Literally the engine stopped and I turned around, and it made a bit of a whirring noise.

“It turned silent, blades started spinning and then there was a big bang.”

He said when he ran to the scene “there was a huge fireball” and it looked like the helicopter had crashed in an industrial park next to the stadium.