Leicester City's Thai chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha watches during the UEFA Champions League group G football match between Leicester City and Club Brugge at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, central England on November 22, 2016. - A helicopter belonging to Thai tycoon Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha crashed on October 27, 2018 near the stadium of his UK football club Leicester City. The identities of the pilot and any passengers on board have not yet been confirmed. It is also not yet known if anyone on the ground was injured. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Leicester City’s charismatic Thai boss was feared dead Sunday after a helicopter belonging to the billionaire crashed and burst into flames in the football stadium car park moments after taking off from the club’s pitch.
Neither the police nor the club would confirm or deny whether Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, a regular at matches who flies to and from home games by helicopter, was on board the aircraft when it appeared to develop a mechanical problem in its rear propeller.
The BBC, Sky News and several British papers quoted sources saying the 60-year-old and a group of others boarded the blue helicopter from the middle of the pitch once the stadium emptied after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with West Ham.
Leicester City said only that it was assisting police with a “major incident” and Vichai’s King Power duty-free shopping empire was not commenting.
Local police thanked fans for their “patience” in a tweet issued nearly 18 hours after the crash.
“We are working with a number of other agencies to get an update out to the public and press,” the Leicestershire police force said in a tweet.
Images showed orange balls of flame engulfing the wreckage in the car park at King Power Stadium.
“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,” freelance photographer Ryan Brown told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Prayers and words of warm praise poured in from across Britain and beyond for the Thai boss who many credit with spurring Leicester’s against-all-odds Premier League title victory in 2016.
A steady stream of grieving fans laid down football scarves and shirts outside the home fans’ entrance as aviation experts picked through the helicopter’s charred remains.
Among the tributes was an image of Ganesh — a Hindu god also seen in Thai Buddhist temples.
A minute of silence was observed before the whistle of Sunday’s two early Premier League matches.
“He’s put Leicester on the map,” club supporter Cathy Dann, 55, told AFP.
“He’s made us big.”
Vichai, who owns the King Power company, bought the club in 2010 and became chairman the following February.
He is a beloved figure in the club and the city.
“Thoughts and prayers with all — particularly owners who’ve done so much for Club and our City,” Leicester’s mayor Peter Soulsby tweeted.
Leicester footballers Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire both tweeted praying hands emojis.
It was under Vichai’s ownership that Leicester created one of the biggest shocks in English football history by winning the 2015/16 Premier League, having started the season as 5,000/1 outsiders for the title.
West Ham defender Pablo Zabaleta, who played in Saturday’s game, tweeted: “My thoughts and prayers are with all those involved in the helicopter accident at Leicester City.”
His teammate Declan Rice tweeted: “Horrendous scenes at the king power tonight, my prayers & thoughts go out to everyone involved at Leicester.”
Footballing legend Gary Lineker, a former Leicester City player who was presenting BBC’s Match of the Day when the crash happened, tweeted: “That was the most difficult @BBCMOTD I’ve ever hosted… A terrible tragedy. Heartbreaking.”
Vichai made major investments in the club after his purchase, returning them to England’s Premier League from the second-tier Championship in 2014.
They seemed initially outmatched by richer and more established clubs from London, Liverpool and Manchester, languishing at the very bottom the table for most of the 2014-15 season.
The Foxes, as the team are known, then engineered what fans now fondly refer to as the “Great Escape”, winning seven of their last nine matches.
They ended up finishing 14th, securing themselves another season in Europe’s richest league in 2015-16.
But not even their most devout fans could have imagined what happened next.
Vardy, signed from unheralded Fleetwood Town, scored in 11 consecutive matches, propelling the men in blue to a title without parallel in Premier League history.
The success also qualified them for the first time for the Champions League, the lucrative championship played by Europe’s most successful side, including Barcelona and Real Madrid.
There, Leicester City defied the odds yet again, winning their group before eventually losing the quarter-final 2-1 over two matches to Atletico Madrid.
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