A £2.15 billion legal claim has been launched following the helicopter crash that killed the former Leicester City owner, according to a PR firm acting on behalf of his family.
Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others were killed when his personal plane crashed shortly after taking off from the club's King Power Stadium in October 2018.
Mr Srivaddhanaprabha's family claims that Leonardo SpA, which manufactured the helicopter, is liable for his death.
The company is seeking £2.15 billion in compensation for the loss of income caused by the Thai billionaire's death, the pain he experienced before he died, and funeral costs, according to PR agency Portland.
A 209-page report from the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) said “serious concerns” had been raised about the safety of the plane, Portland said.
Portland said the family took action in the High Court on Friday, adding: “The report found that the crash was caused by the seizure of a key component in the tail rotor, which Leonardo had identified as critical at the design stage, and it failure of it. catastrophic.
“This failure led to a series of further failures that sent the helicopter into an uncontrollable and accelerating spin until it crashed and burst into flames.”
Multiple errors in Leonardo's design process caused the part to freeze, Portland said.
It added that a “major design change” had been made to mitigate one risk in other helicopter variants, but that change had not been made to the aircraft carrying Srivaddhanaprabha.
“That design change alone may have prevented the total loss of control of the helicopter and the death of everyone on board,” the company claimed, adding that Leonardo failed to warn customers or regulators of the risk.
“The AAIB report concluded that the pilot could not have done anything to prevent the crash,” Portland said.
Mr Srivaddhanaprabha's Leonardo AW169 aircraft took off from the center spot of the field shortly after 7.30pm on 27 October.
The helicopter made a brief right turn before “rapidly increasing right yaw, despite the immediate application of corrective control inputs from the pilot,” the AAIB report said.
The aircraft reached approximately 450 feet before descending “at a high rotational speed.”
It struck a concrete surface and landed on its left side, the impact damaging the lower fuselage and fuel tanks.
This caused a “significant fuel leak,” which ignited, and a fire “quickly engulfed the hull,” the report said.
Four people on the plane survived the initial impact but were burned alive, Portland claimed, citing post-mortem examination reports.
At the time of the crash, Srivaddhanaprabha's Thai travel retail group, King Power, was making more than £2.5 billion a year in revenues, the company said.
Net profits were £237 million in the year before his death, it added.
The damages claimed by the family concern the personal injuries suffered by Mr Srivaddhanaprabha, statutory damages in the event of death, the damage to or loss of his personal property, and the costs of funerals, memorials and inheritance.
They also include the “special loss of intangible benefits, love and affection that only a father and husband can provide,” and loss of past and future income or services.
Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, who succeeded his father as Leicester City chairman, said: “My family feels the loss of my father today as much as we ever have.
'The fact that my own children and their nieces and nephews will never know their grandfather compounds our suffering.
'We have reflected on the conclusions of the AAIB report and carefully considered how we wanted to proceed.
“My father trusted Leonardo when he bought that helicopter, but the conclusions of the report into his death show that his trust was fatally misplaced.
“I hold them fully responsible for his death.”
Peter Neenan, a partner at Stewarts, who is representing the family, said: “The basis of the claim against Leonardo is the independent AAIB report released in September 2023.
“Given the purpose of the AAIB's mission is to report on safety and not to assign blame, the report was as damning a report as I have ever read.
“The claim takes that safety-based analysis to its ultimate implication in allegations of defects and negligence throughout the design process.
“Leonardo's customers include national militaries, air ambulances and other first responders around the world.
“It is critical that all operators of these helicopters have confidence in the machines.”
Legal claim comes on the eve of official investigation
Sky Sports News senior reporter Rob Dorsett:
“For many Leicester City supporters, this will bring back terrifying memories of the darkest day in the club's history, just two years after the best day in the club's history when they lifted the Premier League trophy in 2016.
“The legal claim comes on the eve of the start of the official investigation into the deaths of those five people. That starts on Monday in Leicester and will last the rest of January.
“We have contacted Leonardo SpA for comment, but have not received a response to date.”
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