Leicester City owner’s family takes record claim against helicopter company over crash
Share:
The case is valued at £2.15 billion. The family of Thai businessman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the Leicester City football club owner who died in a helicopter crash near the ground in 2018, has brought a legal action against Italian helicopter manufacturer Leonardo SpA.
![[A statue of former Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha outside the King Power Stadium (Nick Potts/PA)]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/01/13/12/210240859fac61322247682730e1335eY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzA1MjM1MzM5-2.71134942.jpg)
The case in a London court is valued at £2.15 billion ($2.65 billion). The family said in a statement on Friday that the action, which claims for loss of earnings and other damages, represented the largest fatal accident claim in English history. Leonardo did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
![[A man poses for a photograph against a mural showing Leicester City Football Club's Thai chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha near De Montfort University in Leicester]](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/10/28/18/Leicster.jpg)
Srivaddhanaprabha was the owner of Leicester City soccer club, buying the central England side in 2010. Leicester won the English Premier League in 2016 under his ownership. Pilot Eric Swaffer, his partner Izabela Roza Lechowicz and two members of Srivaddhanaprabha’s staff, Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, were also killed in the 2018 crash, shortly after takeoff outside Leicester City’s King Power Stadium following a Premier League match against West Ham.
Four of the five occupants survived the initial impact, but no-one survived due to the helicopter catching fire within a minute following a major fuel leak. Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) found in a 2023 report that it was not possible for the pilot to recover from a tail rotor failure with the Leonardo AW169 helicopter.
