Leicester City helicopter crash was accidental, inquest jury told
2025-01-27
Category: sports

A coroner has directed a jury at an inquest into the deaths of five people killed in a helicopter crash outside Leicester City's King Power Stadium to only return an accidental conclusion.Foxes chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was killed alongside fellow passengers Kaveporn Punpare, Nusara Suknamai, pilot Eric Swaffer and his partner Izabela Roza Lechowicz on 27 October 2018.On Monday, coroner Catherine Mason addressed the jury, which is expected to retire soon to rule on the deaths, as the inquest entered a third week at Leicester's City Hall.Prof Mason called the crash a "terrible tragedy", as she instructed the jury that only an accidental conclusion could be reached.
She said: "The helicopter crash was a terrible tragedy that cost the lives of five people. "These were remarkable individuals who were greatly loved and will be terribly missed."This hearing is to explain to the world how they came to die."
The coroner explained that the identities of the deceased and the medical cause of their deaths were not in dispute.Pathologist Dr Michael Biggs carried out post-mortem examinations on each of the five who died, and told the inquest previously that Ms Lechowicz died from injuries sustained from the impact of the crash.He added the other four people on board would have died "quite rapidly" from smoke inhalation from the fire that broke out after the helicopter crashed outside the stadium on 27 October 2018.Prof Mason also instructed the jury that its conclusions into where, when and how the five came to die could not legally dispute the findings of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).An AAIB report, published in September 2023, found the crash was "inevitable" after a sequence of mechanical failures, and said the pilot could have done "very little" to save everyone on board.The inquest continues.
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