Death of King Power boss Vichai confirmed
published : 29 Oct 2018 at 08:17
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: AFP
The billionaire boss of King Power and Leicester City football team was among three Thais and two foreigners killed when his helicopter crashed and burst into flames in the Premier League side's football stadium car park, the club said on Sunday.
Police named the four other victims as Nursara "Sara" Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, two members of Vichai's staff, pilot Eric Swaffer and passenger Izabela Roza Lechowicz.
Nursara was best known as second runner-up at the Miss Thailand Universe 2005 competition.
Vichai, 60, the owner of Thailand's King Power duty free empire, was a regular at matches who used to fly to and from home games.
A stream of fans already fearing the worst had laid out flowers, football scarves and Buddhist prayers outside the grounds after Saturday's accident in tribute to Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha -- the man they credit for an against-all-odds Premiership victory in 2016.
"The world has lost a great man," the club said in a statement.
"Leicester City was a family under his leadership. It is as a family that we will grieve his passing and maintain the pursuit of a vision for the club that is now his legacy," it said.
He and the four other victims boarded the blue chopper, which took off from the middle of the pitch once the stadium had emptied after Saturday's 1-1 draw with West Ham.
Eyewitnesses said the helicopter appeared to develop a mechanical problem in its rear rotor shortly after takeoff.
Images showed orange balls of flame engulfing the wreckage in the car park at King Power Stadium.
Prayers and tributes poured in from across Britain from the footballing world and beyond for the jovial man many credit with bringing glory to the central English city with the miracle-making club.
It was under Vichai's ownership that Leicester crafted one of the biggest fairytales in English football history by winning the 2015/16 Premier League, having started the season as 5,000-1 outsiders for the title.
Vichai's investments in the club helped return them to England's Premier League from the second-tier Championship in 2014.
Learn from listening
Vocabulary
- against all odds (phrase): undertaking a task or quest when the chances of success are very low - เป็นไปได้ยาก, เป็นไปได้น้อยมาก
- empire: a group of commercial organizations controlled by one person or company - เครือบริษัทที่ยิ่งใหญ่
- fairytale (adj): of a traditional children’s story in which magic things happen - เทพนิยาย
- fear the worst (idiom): expecting something very bad to happen, e.g. death or defeat -
- grieve: to feel very sad, especially because somebody has died - เศร้าโศก, เสียใจ
- jovial: very cheerful and friendly - เริงร่า, เบิกบาน, สนุกสนาน
- legacy: something that someone has achieved that continues to exists after they stop working or die - สิ่งที่สืบทอด
- pitch: an area painted with lines for playing particular sports, especially football - สนามฟุตบอล
- rotor (noun): a part of a machine that turns around a central point - ใบพัดของเฮลิคอปเตอร์
- tribute: something that you do, say, or build to show that you respect and admire someone or something - การแสดงความเคารพ ยกย่องต่อ
- wreckage: the parts of a vehicle or building that remain after it has been severely damaged - ซากตึกบ้านเรือนที่ถูกทำลาย
- Keywords
- club
- car park
- football
- -1 outsiders
