Leicester City owner Vichai, four others confirmed dead in Saturday helicopter crash

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the owner and chairman of Leicester City, English Premier League champions for 2016 and four others have now been dead after his helicopter was involved in a crash on Saturday.

The helicopter lost control after taking off from the King Power Stadium before spiraling out of control and crashed in a fireball.

On Sunday Leicester City Football Club confirmed in a statement that the club owner and chairman had died in the crash.

“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,” read in part the statement.

None of the five occupants of the helicopter survived and these were Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare(Vichai’s staff) and the two  pilots.

According to freelance photographer Ryan Brown who was covering the game, the helicopter was seen clear the King Power Stadium before it crashed.

“The engine stopped and I turned round and it made a bit of a whirring noise, like a grinding noise. The helicopter just went silent, I turned round and it was just spinning, out of control. And then there was a big bang and then [a] big fireball,” BBC Radio Leicester what he had seen.

Srivaddhanaprabha had just witnessed Wilfred Ndidi’s late equalizer rescue a point for Leicester City from ten man West Ham at home.

The Leicester City described Vichai as "a man of kindness, of generosity and one whose life was defined by the love he devoted to his family and those he so successfully led.

"Leicester City was a family under his leadership. It is as a family that we will grieve his passing and maintain the pursuit of a vision for the club that is now his legacy.”

Meanwhile, the club next fixture against Southampton in the EFL Cup, scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed.

The father of four was ranked as the fifth richest person in Thailand by Forbes Magazine.

The Thai businessman who owns the King Power Company bought Leicester in 2010 and became chairman the following year in February.

Under his ownership, Leicester won the Premier League in 2016 and reached the Champions League quarter finals a year later.