2010 Vichai bought the unannounced team from Central England and participated with a gain of 5,000 / 1 in the world of football to win the title in the Premier League in 2016.
The father of four children and the founder of Duty-Free King Power International was a big fan favorite of the club.
"With deepest regret and a collective heartbroken heart, we confirm that our chairman, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, died tragically on Saturday night when a helicopter crashed with him and four other people in front of King Power Stadium," Club Statement said Sunday.
The plane arrived shortly after 19:30 GMT at a parking lot near the King Power Stadium, about an hour after the end of Leicester City's game against West Ham United, police said.
The other victims were probably two of his collaborators, Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, pilot Eric Swaffer and passenger Izabela Roza Lechowicz, Leicestershire Police said.
It was assumed that no one was injured on the ground, they said.
According to witnesses, the helicopter had barely evacuated the top of the stadium before it turned. It then crashed to the ground and burst into flames.
John Butcher, who was near the stadium at the time of the crash, told the BBC that his nephew had seen the helicopter out of control, apparently because of a broken rear propeller.
"Within a second, it fell like a rock to the ground, luckily it spiraled for a while and everyone was sort of scattered."
READ: Mbeppe plays again as PSG wins 2-0 in Marseille for their eleventh win
WIN TITLE
After pumping millions of pounds into the club, Vichai Leicester helped lead him back to the top league in 2014 before touching the sport and beating Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Hundreds of fans put flowers, football shirts and shawls in front of the stadium as a tribute to Vichai on Sunday.
"He put so much money into the club, he brought the club out of bankruptcy, invested money, built the team and won the Premiership," 68-year-old fan Richard Mobbs told Reuters.
"The future looks bright or at least it looked bright."
According to Forbes Magazine, Vichai was the fifth-richest person in Thailand with an estimated net worth of $ 4.9 billion.
Founded in 1989, the self-catering company was awarded an airport monopoly in 2006 under the reign of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It went on even after Thaksin had delivered a coup this year.
The family empire also includes the Belgian football club Oud-Heverlee Leuven.
The investigation into the cause of the crash was conducted by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (BFU) and would likely take several days, the police said.
The manufacturer of the helicopter, the Italian space company Leonardo SpA, said it was ready to support the investigation.
It was said that it was the first AW169 aircraft involved in an accident.
The EFL (English Football League) said Leicester City's Round Four Carabao Cup draw with Southampton, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed because of the incident. The tie should be played at the King Power Stadium.
Players are said to wear black bracelets in all EFL games over the next seven days as a sign of respect for the deceased.
No comments:
Post a Comment