Leicester City football club owner’s helicopter crashes outside stadium

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Police officers secure the area outside Leicester City Football Club's King Power Stadium in Leicester, eastern England, on October 27, 2018 after a helicopter crashed in a car park outside the stadium. (AFP)
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This image made from video shows a burning helicopter in a parking lot outside the King Power Stadium in Leicester, England shortly after a Premier League game on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. (AP)
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King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - October 27, 2018 Firemen at the scene of where the helicopter belonging to Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha crashed outside the King Power Stadium. (REUTERS)
Updated 28 October 2018
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Leicester City football club owner’s helicopter crashes outside stadium

  • Billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who owns Thai duty-free retail giant King Power, bought Leicester in 2010 and provided the funds that helped the team improbably win the Premier League at odds of 5,000-1 in 2016

LEICESTER, England: A helicopter belonging to Leicester City football club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha crashed in a ball of flames in the club’s car park on Saturday after a Premier League match, British media said.

BBC reported that Vichai, a father of four and the founder of duty-free giant King Power International, was on board the helicopter when it crashed around an hour after the game had ended, according to a source close to his family.
According to eyewitnesses, the helicopter just cleared the top of the stadium before it started to spin. It then plummeted to the ground and burst into flames.
A spokesman for the Midlands club said: “We are assisting Leicestershire Police and the emergency services in dealing with a major incident at King Power Stadium.”
Police and the ambulance services urged people to stay away.
John Butcher, who was near the stadium at the time of the crash, told the BBC his nephew saw the helicopter spiral out of control apparently due to a faulty rear propeller.
“Within a second it dropped like a stone to the floor...Luckily it did spiral for a little while and everybody sort of ran, sort of scattered. As far as we are aware nobody around the car park was caught up in this problem.”
In Thailand, officials at King Power said they could not yet comment on the crash or say whether Vichai had been aboard.
Vichai is a huge favorite with the fans after he bought the unfancied side from central England in 2010 and they went on to stun the soccer world by winning the league title in 2016.
According to Forbes magazine he is the fifth richest person in Thailand with an estimated net worth of $4.9 billion.
Leicestershire Police said a team from the Department for Transport’s Air Accidents Investigations Branch had taken charge of the investigation into the cause of the crash.

English champions
After pumping millions of pounds into the club, he helped steer them back into the top flight in 2014 before they stunned the sport by beating the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea to become champions of England.
Leading players in the side, including Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire, sent messages of support on Twitter while rival clubs including Manchester City also voiced their concern.
Freelance photographer Ryan Brown was covering the game and saw the helicopter clear the stadium before it crashed, the BBC reported.
“Literally the engine stopped and I turned around, and it made a bit of a whirring noise,” Brown told BBC Radio 5 Live. “It turned silent, blades started spinning and then there was a big bang.”
Leicester had played a league match at home against West Ham United earlier on Saturday, drawing 1-1.
The self-made businessman Vichai founded Thai duty-free giant King Power in 1989.
The duty-free business got a big boost in 2006 when it was granted an airport monopoly under the government of then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and it continued to prosper even after Thaksin’s ouster in a coup that year.
The family’s empire also includes Belgian football club, Oud-Heverlee Leuven. 


Fourth Palestine Action activist ends hunger strike in UK prison

Protesters take part in a demonstration in support of "Defend Our Juries" and their campaign against the ban on Palestine Action
Updated 5 sec ago
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Fourth Palestine Action activist ends hunger strike in UK prison

  • Amy Gardiner-Gibson began eating again after 49 days of protest
  • Govt rejects claims it ignored prison safety protocols

LONDON: A fourth Palestine Action activist imprisoned in the UK has ended her hunger strike.

Amy Gardiner-Gibson, who also uses the name Amu Gib, began eating again after 49 days of fasting, the campaign group Prisoners for Palestine said.

Qesser Zuhrah, another activist, ended her hunger strike last week after 48 days but said she might resume it next year, Sky News reported.

Four Palestine Action activists have now ended their hunger strikes while in prison, while four others are continuing to fast.

All of them are in prison on remand, awaiting trial for a series of high-profile alleged break-ins and criminal damage.

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization and banned earlier this year.

On Tuesday, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was arrested in central London at a rally in support of the hunger strikers.

The protesters are demanding that weapons factories in Britain with ties to Israel be shut down, as well as the removal of Palestine Action’s proscription.

They are also calling for immediate bail to be given to imprisoned pro-Palestine activists and an end to the alleged mistreatment of prisoners in custody.

Seven imprisoned members of Palestine Action have been transferred to hospital over the course of the hunger strike campaign. Doctors have highlighted concerns about the long-term impact of fasting on the activists.

Lawyers representing the group on Monday initiated legal action against the government over its alleged failure to follow prison safety regulations.

The government, however, has rejected this accusation, Sky News reported.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Ministers do not intervene in individual cases. Where individuals are on remand, doing so would risk prejudicing ongoing legal proceedings and undermine the independence of the justice system.

“Concerns about welfare and process can be raised through established legal and administrative channels, including prison governors and ultimately the prison and probation ombudsman.

“Healthcare decisions are taken independently by qualified NHS professionals and appropriate care and oversight frameworks remain in place.”

The activists still on hunger strike include Heba Muraisi and Teuta Hoxha. Hoxha has been on remand for 13 months and her family told Sky News they feared she would die in prison.

Another of the activists, Kamran Ahmad, is believed to have been on hunger strike for 45 days and hospitalized three times.

Lewie Chiaramello, who has Type 1 diabetes, is on day 31 of his strike and taking part by fasting every other day.