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A helicopter belonging to Leicester City football club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha has crashed in a ball of flames in the club's car park.
Key points:
- Not known if Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was on board the helicopter
- Eyewitnesses said helicopter took off as normal from pitch's centre circle, before spiralling to the ground
- Vichai regularly attends games, with the club winning a fairy tale Premier League title under his ownership in 2016
Images emerged of a massive fireball outside the grounds of King Power Stadium in central England more than an hour after the Premier League match between Leicester City and West Ham United.
It was not known whether Mr Vichai was in the helicopter that had taken off from the stadium just moments earlier.
The helicopter spiralled out of control before crashing.
The Premier League club said in a statement on social media that it was assisting emergency services and police in dealing with the crash.
"We are assisting Leicestershire Police and the emergency services in dealing with a major incident at King Power Stadium. The club will issue a more detailed statement once further information has been established," the statement said.
A number of eyewitnesses have told UK media they saw the helicopter take off as normal and hover over the south-east corner of the ground before spluttering and spiralling towards the carpark and bursting into flames.
British broadcaster BT Sport was presenting its post-game show in the stadium when the helicopter took off.
"It suddenly got very serious," BT presenter Jake Humphrey announced later on air.
"The helicopter has crashed. It has crashed in the club car park … we heard a commotion."
Mr Vichai regularly attends games at the King Power Stadium before returning to London on a helicopter after matches, with the helicopter taking off from the pitch's centre circle.
Emergency services were quickly on the scene, although police in the city confirmed only they were dealing with an "incident".
Freelance photographer Ryan Brown was covering the game and saw the helicopter clear the stadium before it crashed, the BBC reported.
"Literally the engine stopped and I turned around, and it made a bit of a whirring noise," Brown told the BBC.
"It turned silent, blades started spinning and then there was a big bang."
Officials at Thailand's King Power, of which Mr Vichai is chairman, said they could not yet make a comment on the crash.
Two King Power officials contacted by Reuters said they could neither confirm nor deny whether Mr Vichai was on board the helicopter.
"We cannot say anything and no statement can be given yet," one of the King Power officials said.
Leicester City full-back Ben Chilwell was among a host of Foxes players to share their thoughts on social media, tweeting the word "Speechless …".
Leicester had played an English Premier League match at home against West Ham United earlier on Saturday, drawing 1-1. West Ham chief executive Karren Brady said those connected with her club had left the stadium safely.
Mr Vichai bought the club in 2010, and the unfancied side won the Premier League title in 2016 at incredible odds of 5000-to-1.
It proved to be one of the greatest fairy tale stories in world sport, having only just survived its first season back in the Premier League the previous year, to go on and win the marathon Premier League title against a number of teams with stratospherically bigger budgets than the modest Foxes.
The likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and a faltering Chelsea — squads decked with global superstars and experienced managers — could do nothing to derail Leicester's stoic defence and rapid counter-attacks under then manager Claudio Ranieri's stewardship.
Former England and Leicester striker Gary Lineker said his thoughts were with "everyone concerned".
ABC/Wires
Topics: disasters-and-accidents, sport, soccer, english-premier, england, united-kingdom
First posted