Helicopter crashes near Leicester stadium, chairman killed
October 28, 2018
A helicopter belonging to Leicester City's owner crashed in the stadium grounds of the British football club. The club has confirmed that all five aboard, including chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, have perished.
Image: picture-alliance/PA Wire/a. Chown
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Fans and members of the public laid bouquets outside Leicester City's stadium the morning after a helicopter belonging to the football club's Thai owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, crashed in the stadium grounds.
Later on Sunday, the club confirmed that all five people who had been on board the aircraft had died, including Srivaddhanaprabha.
Srivaddhanaprabha, 61, was known to fans as a smiling, benevolent man who gave away free beers and hot dogs on his birthday and brought the club its fairytale English Premier League title in 2016. He was also famous for arriving and leaving the stadium in his helicopter at home games.
"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," the club said in a statement, without naming the other four victims.
Eye witnesses reported seeing the helicopter plummet to the grounds shortly after a Premier League game between Leicester and West Ham on Saturday night.
Footage depicting the crash site showed large flames engulfing the machine.
The wreckage of the helicopterImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Football community shocked
A number of clubs and prominent football figures have expressed their condolences over the incident.
Gary Lineker, a former English footballer and sports analyst, called the crash "a terrible tragedy."
"That was the most difficult @BBCMOTD I've ever hosted. Thoughts are with everyone at Leicester City. A terrible tragedy. Heartbreaking," Lineker wrote on Twitter.
Italian club Juventus' Argentine striker Paula Dybala also dubbed the crash "a sad day for football" in a tweet.
Leicester's Cinderella story
Vichai, who was chairman of the Thai travel retail group King Power International, became the owner of the football club in 2010 and provided it with badly needed investment. Leicester went on to win the English Premier League title in 2016.
The victory was a shock to global football. The odds of the team winning the championship had been 5000 to 1 at the beginning of the season.
Leicester City Football Club owner Vichai SrivaddhanaprabhaImage: picture-alliance/PA Wire/M. Egerton
The 61-year-old Thai tycoon was known for his warmth and was frequently seen at the stadium handing out free beer and doughnuts. But he had been guarded about his private life, granting only a few interviews and deferring many public appearances to his son Aiyawatt.
es/amp (AFP, Reuters)
Europe's major plane crashes of the 21st century
DW takes a look at a few of the most deadly and significant plane crashes in Europe in the 21st century.
Image: AP/Toshihiko Sato
European aviation disasters of the 21st century: Germanwings Airbus A320
A Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed into the French Alps on March 24, 2015 during a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. All 144 passengers and six crew members were killed. A co-pilot with mental problems intentionally crashed the plane.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
Rebels in eastern Ukraine were accused of shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17, 2014 during a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, 193 of them Dutch. A Dutch investigation found pro-Russian rebels shot the plane down with a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from separatist territory in eastern Ukraine.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Dunand
Polish President Lech Kaczynski killed
A Polish air force plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski crashed near the Russian airport of Smolensk on April 10, 2010. A Russian and Polish investigation found pilot error during landing in thick fog caused the crash that killed more than 90 people. Jaroslaw Kaczynski (pictured), the twin brother of Lech and leader of the ruling PiS, has suggested the crash was a political assassination.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Kaminski
Air France Flight 447
An Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed in the Atlantic on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people on board. It took nearly two years for the black box (pictured) to be recovered from the bottom of the ocean. The investigation found a combination of technical and pilot error caused the crash.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
Spanair Flight 5022
A Spanair MD-82 plane crashed after take-off from Madrid airport on August 20, 2008, killing 154 people. Amazingly, 18 people survived the crash and subsequent fire. The crash was caused by an improper flap and slat configuration and a failure of the pilots to follow a pre-flight checklist.
Image: AP
Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612
A Russian passenger plane operated by Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise crashed near the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk on August 22, 2006, killing all 170 people aboard. The plane was flying from St. Petersburg to the Black Sea resort of Anapa.
Image: AP
Helios Airways Flight 522
A Helios Airways flight from Cyprus crashed on August 14, 2005 near its destination Athens, killing all 121 on board. The crash was caused by a loss of cabin pressurization that immobilized the crew. The plane flew on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed.
Image: AP
Überlingen mid-air collision
On the night of July 1, 2002, a DHL cargo plane flying near the southern German town of Überlingen struck a Russian passenger jet carrying mostly schoolchildren to Barcelona, Spain. The two men aboard the DHL plane and all 69 passengers and crew on Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 perished. Swiss air traffic control firm Skyguide was found to be at fault for the tragedy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Haid
SAS Flight 686
On October 8, 2001 a Scandinavian Airlines MD-87 airliner collided with a small Cessna on take-off from Milan's Linate Airport. All 114 people on the SAS and Cessna aircraft were killed, as were four people on the ground. The accident happened in thick fog. The SAS plane crashed into a hangar.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Ansa
Air France Concorde Flight
On July 25, 2000 an Air France Concorde flight from Paris to New York crashed two minutes after take-off, killing 109 people on board and four people on the ground. The crash was caused by the Concorde running over a piece of debris on the runway, which sent tire debris into part of the fuel tank that burst into flames.
