The owner of Leicester City FC died when his helicopter crashed outside the stadium, the club has confirmed.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, two members of his staff, the pilot and a passenger were killed when the aircraft crashed at about 20:30 BST on Saturday.

Witnesses said the helicopter just cleared the King Power Stadium before it spiralled out of control and crashed in a fireball.

Thousands of bouquets and scarves have already been left outside the ground.

Leicestershire Police said it believed the dead to be--Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, two members of his staff, Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, Pilot Eric Swaffer and his partner Izabela Roza Lechowicz.

Mr Swaffer had over 20 years' flying experience as a private jet and helicopter pilot.

His career included flying helicopters for live media broadcasting including Channel 4's The Big Breakfast and the Virgin Radio traffic helicopter.

Mr Srivaddhanaprabha, 60, who was married and had four children, bought Leicester City for £39m in 2010.

Under his ownership the club won the Premier League in 2016, having started the season as 5,000/1 outsiders.

In a statement, Leicester City said the club's thoughts were with "the Srivaddhanaprabha family and the families of all those on-board at this time of unspeakable loss".

BBC Online

BDST: 1141 HRS, OCT 29, 2018
SI