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Pilot Of Leicester Helicopter May Have Saved Hundreds Of People's Lives

Pilot Of Leicester Helicopter May Have Saved Hundreds Of People's Lives

Sky Sports News employee, Dan Cox, was walking across the car park when he spotted the aircraft

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

A cameraman who watched Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha's helicopter crash outside the King Power stadium says the pilot guided the aircraft away from people on the ground.

Sky Sports News employee, Dan Cox, was walking across the car park after filming the post-match interviews following Leicester's 1-1 draw at home to West Ham.

He told Sky News: "I heard the helicopter coming out of the stadium, saw it as you do, they are amazing pieces of machinery and then I just carried on walking thinking next time I look up it is going to be overhead.

PA

"The next thing I just looked up and it was just spinning, static just out of control, just a constant spinning, I have never seen anything like it.

"I don't know how the pilot did it but he seemed to manage to slow down the spinning rotation and it drifted off into the corner part of the car park."

Mr Cox started to film the aftermath and two police officers attempted to get close but were beaten away by flames.

PA

He continued: "To my mind the pilot was heroic and the two police offers in front of me, who also tried to help, they are heroes too.

"It could have been so much worse if the pilot hadn't done that."

The chopper had taken off from the pitch of the stadium at around 8:30pm which is the norm for Leicester's owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, after each home game.

PA

Leicester City released a statement on Sunday evening confirming the news that owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha has sadly passed away.

The club released a statement on Twitter and confirmed that none of the five passengers survived 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," reads the club's statement.

"None of the five people on-board survived."

One witness has said that the Foxes keeper Kasper Schmeichel had rushed out to the scene and was deeply distressed by what had happened.

Another witness told Sky Sports: "[My nephew] saw this helicopter out of control, then drop within a second and burst into flames. He was so upset -- we're all thinking about the owners here and what they've done for the football club. It's awful, you can't believe it."

PA

Fans have been visiting the stadium today to lay flowers at the scene of the crash.

SPORTbible would like to send out its deepest condolences to Leicester City FC and all those who have been affected by this tragedy.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: SPORT, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Leicester City, News