The pilot of a helicopter which crashed outside Leicester’s stadium last night may have prevented a larger tragedy by bringing it down away from buildings and homes.
The helicopter, belonging to Leicester City’s owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha – who is feared to have been on board – came down just outside the ground after the club’s match against West Ham last night.
An aerial view shows where the helicopter crashed and then burst into flames, in a relatively derelict part of the site.
The crash could have caused mass casualties if it had come down on the road, car park, nearby houses or wrecked part of the King Power Stadium.
A Sky Sports News cameraman said: ‘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.’
‘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.’
Witnesses have said the ‘engine stopped’ in the air, before the helicopter plummeted to the ground at around 8.45pm.