Fans pay beautiful tribute at scene of Leicester helicopter crash

Leicester City fans and supporters have returned to the scene of the fiery helicopter crash to pay their respects.

The club’s charismatic Thai owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was feared dead on Sunday, after the helicopter belonging to the billionaire crashed and burst into flames outside the stadium.

Prayers and tributes poured in from across Britain for the jovial man many credit with bringing glory to the central English city with the miracle-making club – with a throng of supporters laying flowers, flags and handwritten notes at the scene.

“He’s put Leicester on the map,” supporter Cathy Dann, 55, told AFP.

“He’s made us big.”

A steady stream of grieving fans laid down football scarves and shirts outside the home fans’ entrance as aviation experts picked through small pieces of wreckage scattered on the stadium’s edge.

Among the tributes was an image of Ganesh – a Hindu god also seen in Thai Buddhist temples.

A minute’s silence was observed before the whistle of all Sunday’s Premier League matches as well

“It is a family business and they have instilled this sense of family not just throughout the club but into the city as well,” Andrew Hulley, the team’s chaplain for the past seven years, told AFP.

Prayers and disbelief over Leicester tragedy

While still holding out glimmers of hope, silence from the club and their Thai owners made most people presume the worst.

England legend Gary Lineker, a former Leicester player and host of the BBC’s Match of the Day, tweeted: “That was the most difficult @BBCMOTD I’ve ever hosted… A terrible tragedy. Heartbreaking.”

English football clubs and clubs from around the world, including players themselves, also sent an overwhelming number of supportive messages:

Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was manager of the team under Vichai, called his former boss a “very, very generous man” who “saw every game during my time”.

And ordinary fans in central Bangkok said Vichai helped develop Thailand’s football as well, bringing the Southeast Asian country greater recognition in the sports world.

“He is an important person who has raised the bar of Thai football further,” Apichart Jitratkavee, a Leicester fan in the Thai capital, told AFP.

Vichai bought Leicester City in 2010 and moved to chairman the following February, pouring millions into the team and becoming a beloved figure in the club and the city – a feat not always achieved by the Premier League’s foreign owners.

with AFP.