Family, players pay tribute to Thai owner of Leicester City
Print Edition
THE family of the late Thai billionaire boss of English Premier League club Leicester City laid wreathes yesterday at the site where his helicopter crashed as investigators began examining the aircraft’s black box.
Dressed in black, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s son Aiyawatt and widow Aimon walked through a sea of tributes from fans outside the stadium, including flowers, football scarves and Buddhist statues.
Vichai’s son, known as “Top”, is chief executive of his father’s duty-free empire King Power and also vice chairman of the football club Vichai bought in 2010.
Aiyawatt was later joined by the team, including striker Jamie Vardy, center-back Harry Maguire and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, with the group pausing in reflection in front of the flowers.
“Struggling to find the right words, but to me you are a legend, an incredible man who had the biggest heart, the soul of Leicester City Football Club,” Vardy wrote on Instagram.
The team’s French manager Claude Puel also joined the mourners.
Vichai, 60, was among five people who died when the helicopter crashed in the stadium car park moments after taking off from the pitch following Saturday’s EPL match against West Ham United. The site is still cordoned off as investigators pick through the wreckage.
The government’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch said yesterday it had recovered the helicopter’s digital flight data recorder, which was subject to “intense heat” in a fire.
“Today our inspectors... will start working on the recorder,” the AAIB, which is leading the inquiry, said in a statement.
The other victims included two members of Vichai’s staff, Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, pilot Eric Swaffer and the pilot’s girlfriend, Izabela Roza Lechowicz, also a pilot.
Vichai, a regular at matches who used to fly to and from home games, was much-loved in the city as the driving force behind the club’s historic 2016 EPL victory.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and Prince William, who is president of the Football Association, both offered their condolences.
“I was lucky to have known Vichai for several years. He was a businessman of strong values who was dedicated to his family and who supported a number of important charitable causes,” said William, the Duke of Cambridge.
May said her thoughts were with the family and friends of the victims as well as supporters of the club. “The outpouring of grief is a testament to how many people’s lives were touched by those on board,” she said.
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