Tributes to Leicester City’s ‘adored’ billionaire proprietor Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha as inquest opens into helicopter fireball tragedy that killed pilot and 4 passengers

Jurors were today shown footage of a helicopter falling out of the sky seconds before it erupted in flames killing five people, including the billionaire chairman of Leicester City.

Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, 60, died alongside his employees Nusara Suknamai, 32, and Kaveporn Punpare, 33, pilot Eric Swaffer, 53, and his partner and professional pilot, Izabela Roza Lechowicz, 46, when the aircraft span out of control seconds after taking off from the Leicester City stadium.

Inquests into their deaths began in the city this morning – more than six years after the tragedy in October 2018.

In a video shot by a supporter inside the stadium, the aircraft is seen appearing to pass over the top of the stadium before turning to the right and then violently entering a tailspin. It then disappeared behind the stadium roof on the far side of the ground, as onlookers could be heard swearing in shock.

Mark Jarvis, a principle investigator with the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB), said the helicopter landed on waste ground between two car parks. It struck a half-meter high concrete step in that area of open ground and that punctured the fuel tanks.

He added: ‘There was a significant fuel leak. A fire started very rapidly and progressed very quickly to consume the whole helicopter.’

Still images taken from CCTV cameras outside the ground showed the helicopter starting to plummet to the ground before impact at 8.37pm. One image showed the helicopter, which landed on its ‘underside before turning onto its side’ on the ground, with the blue lights of police cars approaching, before the helicopter ignited.

The court heard the officers had just happened to be driving along a nearby road when they saw the helicopter fall out of the sky.

In stills from one of the officers’ bodyworn cameras just two minutes after the impact, the aircraft is then seen to be well ablaze as a sergeant attempted to gain access with his baton.

But Mr Jarvis told jurors at Leicester City Hall that because the helicopter ended up on its left side, the only accessible doors on the right-hand-side were 2.5m off the ground.

He said the windscreen of the helicopter was ‘designed to withstand a 1kg bird strike at 180mph’ and said specialist equipment would be needed to gain access.

The court heard the aircraft had been due to fly Mr Srivaddhanaprabha to Stansted Airport following the club’s match with West Ham United on that Saturday evening.

Jurors were also shown stills of the late club chairman walking towards the helicopter with Ms Suknamai moments before take-off.

Earlier, the hearing began with moving tributes to the dead from family members.

In a pen portrait read by Philip Shepherd KC, counsel to the Srivaddhanaprabha family, said: ‘Khun Vichai was the leader of our family, a caring and devoted husband. 

‘A father, uncle and grandfather. We feel the loss of him today as much as we have ever done. He was a good man with a good heart.

‘He was a great inspiration to us all and we all loved him very much. It’s impossible to put Khun Vichai into words.’

They said he was ‘adored’ for his ‘generosity, charm, humour and intellect’, adding that on his last trip to England, he had gone shopping for gifts for his first grandchild, who he ‘would have done anything and everything for’.

‘His plan was to stay healthy, raise his grandchildren and ensure their legacy’, the statement added.

They said he was a man of ‘boundless energy’ to whom innovation was ‘instinctive’.

He decided to enter the duty-free market in 1989 and spoke of the industry as an opportunity to drive economic growth in his homeland, Thailand.

They said his King Power Group was ‘by some measure, the dominant leisure retailer in Thailand’.

The three-week jury inquest at Leicester City Hall is taking place before Professor Catherine Mason, the Senior Coroner for Leicester City & South Leicestershire.

The coroner said interested parties at the inquest included the families, King Power Group, Leonardo, the manufacturer of the helicopter, the operator of the helicopter, the firms responsible for its storage and maintenance and the manufacturer of the helicopter’s tail rotor bearing.

Ms Mason said the inquest would hear from eyewitnesses to the crash, police officers AAIB inspectors and workers involved in the helicopters’ maintenance.

She said the inquest would cover flights made by the helicopter earlier that day, the circumstances of the accident including take-off and climb, the path taken by the helicopter and its crash-landing, as well as the response of the emergency services.

It would also examine the history of the helicopter model, relevant maintenance history and will examine the tail rotor bearing component.

The inquests began days after the Srivaddhanaprabha family lodged what they described as the ‘largest fatal accident claim in English history’ over the disaster.

Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s family allege Leonardo SpA, which manufactured the helicopter, is liable for his death.

They are seeking £2.15bn in compensation for loss of earnings as a result of the Thai billionaire’s death, the pain he experienced before he died, and funeral and probate expenses, the PR firm representing the family said. The claim also seeks compensation for the ‘special loss of intangible benefits, love and affection that only a father and husband can provide’.

In a statement released ahead of the inquests, Khun Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, the son of Khun Vichai who succeeded his father as Chairman of Leicester City said: ‘My family embraces the inquest process and look forward to the explanation into how and why my father lost his life, and what has been done to ensure that other families will not suffer the same terrible pain of loss that has been inflicted on us.’

Kate Lechowicz, the sister of Izabela Lechowicz, added on behalf of the Lechowicz and Swaffer families: ‘Waiting for the inquest has been tormenting, leaving many unanswered questions and frustrations lingering for over 6 years since the tragic loss of our Eric and Izabela.

‘Aviation safety was close to their hearts, they will be avidly watching this from afar keen to see changes that will prevent such disasters in the future. Our children will never get to know their aunt and uncle, the adventures they had, except through the pictures we have in our home and the stories we tell from our memories. We still miss them terribly.

Portland, the public relations firm representing the family, said that at the time of the crash, Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s Thai travel and duty free retail group, King Power, earned more than £2.5 billion a year in revenue.

Under his ownership, the King Power Group expanded into sports with the acquisition of polo and football teams, most notably Leicester City Football Club in 2010 for £39m.

The pen portrait of Mr Srivaddhanaprabha continued: ‘His positive energy was contagious and he maintained that through hard work and discipline. He was always two steps of everyone else.

‘Khun Vichai was a man of honour. Those who worked with him and signed a contract with him got his word….He made sure he signed all his staff’s birthday cards.

‘He always mentioned to us the importance of his staff. He showed no signs of slowing down.

In 2004 he established the King Power Foundation which supports adults with mental health problems and disadvantaged children.

‘He also established Leicester City’s Foxes Foundation which aims to support local and national causes. Since it’s formation in 2011/12 the foundation has raised almost £2m for local charities.’

They said the businessman had a vision to put Leicester City in the Premier League and formed a bond not only with the team, but their supporters. They described how the rank outsiders then won the Premier League title in 2016 in only their second season following promotion.

The family described the late football club chairman as a ‘phenomenon’ and ‘one-of-a-kind’.

The tribute ended with a video montage showing Mr Srivaddhanaprabha celebrating the team’s 5000-1 title success and meeting supporters.

Kate Lechowicz, sister of Izabela Lechowicz, read tributes to Mr Swaffer and Ms Lechowicz.

She said of Mr Swaffer: ‘Eric was a cherished son, brother, partner and a treasured friend to many. His family and friends describe him as extremely funny, charming and cheeky.

‘He was great company, connecting with friends all over the world. He had a profound love for aviation, technology, travel, his motorbike and life in general.

‘There was nothing he hadn’t tried his hand at….he excelled at everything he tried.’

She said that he had previously flown members of the Royal Family on helicopter flights. But after tragically losing some of his closest friends in helicopter accidents Ms Lechowicz added that Mr Swaffer had ‘devoted himself to making the industry safer.’

Ms Lechowicz added: ‘Eric loved to travel to his favourite destinations’ and said India was ‘like his second home’ and where he relaxed after hectic business schedules.

‘He lived a dream life with my sister as they soared through the skies together. Forever loved and never forgotten.’

She said Izabela was an ‘extraordinary individual’ who displayed a ‘passion for life’ and her profession.

‘In High School she distinguished herself as a top-performing student in her class’, a trend which continued through further studies.

Fighting back tears, she said her sister’s achievements had ‘made her family really proud’ and ‘her legacy lives on in the ‘many pilots that she trained’.

She added: ‘She’s still so dearly missed by so many.’

The tributes finished with a photo and video montage set to Coldplay’s Yellow. It featured the couple in uniform, on holiday and as children.

The wife of Kaveporn Punpare said the couple met in 2006 when she attended one of his fitness classes at a hotel owned by King Power.

She said that the following year he began working as an assistant butler for Mr Srivaddhanaprabha and his family.

His duties included accompanying KV on trips, including overseas. In 2015, our daughter was born and Kaveporn Punpare was home for this. The same year he became one of the main butlers for the family.

He was a ‘kind, hard-working, compassionate person. He is missed by all his family each and every day.’

A lawyer representing the family of Nusara Suknamai described her as the ‘pillar of the family’.

Reading out a family statement he said Ms Suknamai was degree educated at Bangkok University and went on to work in real estate for the King Power company. The court heard she had also once represented Thailand in the Miss Universe beauty pageant.

Mark Jarvis, an AAIB investigator, told the court the twin-engined helicopter could carry up to 12 passengers, but the one involved in the crash was fitted out to ‘VIP interior’ and could only carry up to seven passenger.

The AW169 was designed in accordance with European Aviation Safety Agency specifications and the model involved in the crash was only built 27 months before the crash, and had flown 331 hours, making 1,034 landings.

The aircraft’s maintenance history showed compliance with regulatory requirements and the Italian manufacturer’s approved maintenance programme and was said to be ‘very early in its’ life’.

The court heard that Mr Srivaddhanaprabha was due to fly from the stadium to Stansted Airport following Leicester’s fixture against West Ham that Saturday evening.

The court heard that on the afternoon of the match, the helicopter flew Mr Srivaddhanaprabha and his staff from London Battersea Airport to the club’s training ground, from where they travelled to the stadium by road.

After the match, the helicopter made the three-minute flight to the ground, landing in the centre of the pitch.

Jonathan Hough KC, leading counsel to the inquest, asked if this was a common occurrence and Mr Jarvis said: ‘It was, and there was an approved procedure for doing this’.

Jurors were then shown still images of Mr Srivaddhanaprabha and Ms Suknamai walking towards the aircraft at 8.32pm, before footage of the helicopter taking off was played to the court.

It showed the aircraft appear to pass over the top of the stadium before turning to the right and then violently entering a tailspin before disappearing behind the stadium roof on the far side of the ground.

In the footage shot by a ‘supporter from the side of the pitch’, onlookers could be heard swearing in shock.

Mark Jarvis said the helicopter landed in the vicinity of car parks B and E where there were no buildings. It struck a half-meter high concrete step in that area of open ground and that punctured the fuel tanks.

He added: ‘There was a significant fuel leak. A fire started very rapidly and progressed very quickly to consume the whole helicopter.’ 

Puchong Masayavanij, Leicester’s assistant club secretary, was in a group that walked across the pitch with Mr Srivaddhanaprabha towards the helicopter after the game.

He said he had returned to the players’ tunnel when Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel ‘ran past me and shouted: ‘did you not see that? The helicopter just went down’.

Mr Masayavanij said: ‘I ran, following him into the reception and outside into the car park. I turned left and followed Kasper Schmeichel.

‘We ran around the stadium towards the furthest car park….That’s when I saw the helicopter and just kept running.’

He added: ‘I saw policemen and the fire starting. The policeman was trying to break the (helicopter) window with a baton.’

He said officers stopped him from approaching the blazing aircraft. He then called a member of staff at King Power saying ‘the helicopter had come down and I can’t see the chairman’, before returning to the stadium.

Earlier, the club’s director of football told how Mr Srivaddhanaprabha ‘always waved and raised his thumb’ as the helicopter left the ground after a match.

Jonathan Rudkin said that on the night of the crash there initially seemed to be ‘nothing unusual’ about the helicopter’s ascent.

But as it cleared the stadium roof it made a turn which ‘continued into a spin’.

He added: ‘I thought there’s something wrong here.

‘It started to nosedive away from the stadium, still rotating in the air. I thought it looks like it’s going to be crashing and I ran back down towards the (stadium) tunnel. I was shouting to people to say we need medics urgently around the back of the stadium.’

Asked about his thoughts as he saw the helicopter spin, he said the helicopter ‘reminded me of something you would see on the TV or in a movie situation’ and was ‘very, very serious’.

The inquests continue.