Former Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has touched on the night Khun Vichai and four others died in a helicopter crash at King Power Stadium.
Schmeichel waved to the president and was one of the first on the scene when the helicopter landed in the empty parking lot outside the stadium after the 1-1 draw with West Ham on October 27, 2018.
Schmeichel recalled in an interview with The Times: “He came out of the dressing room and sometimes the players came out with him and waved to him. “I remember standing with one of his assistants looking and thinking ‘Something’s wrong here’.
As he started to spin, I turned around and ran out into the stadium, round the corner, I heard it hit the ground and saw the fire. “I ran across the parking lot, down that hill to the other parking lot and to the window. I miss the fire and the heat. From what could be seen, it was clear that there was nothing we could do. One of the security guards said. A follower pulled me back then ran back and tried to break the window to see if they could get in.
“I remember very clearly thinking about my children, thinking that if this blew up I would leave them behind and the fear of that and then a bunch of police came. I was pulled into an entrance next to the stadium. I just know that. . . bad.”
After revealing that his answer was “so stupid” and after pausing, he continued:
“Vichai is someone I really care about. You’ll run to him to see if there’s anything you can do.
“I became a lot more grateful, but over a long period of time I became a lot more scared. I realized that it only takes one little thing that everything is not okay and can be. Days hey, flying isn’t my favorite thing.
I’ll never fly a helicopter, that’s for sure. My logic wins when I fly, it’s safer and more aerodynamic, and my brother-in-law is a pilot, he explains a lot about that.”
