The deaths of five people who were killed after a helicopter crashed outside the King Power Stadium and became engulfed in flames were accidental, an inquest jury has concluded. The inquest heard evidence of "basic engineering failures" by helicopter manufacturer, Leonardo, which meant that it was an "accident waiting to happen". Former Leicester City FC owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, referred to in court as Khun Vichai, was killed with the helicopter's pilot Eric Swaffer, his partner and co-pilot Izabela Lechowicz, and passengers Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare. The Leonardo AW169 helicopter spun out of control after it took off from the pitch at 8.37pm after a match between Leicester City and West Ham on October 27 2018. Report by Faragt. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Today the jury reached their conclusion into the deaths of those on board the Leonardo AW169 helicopter
00:09after the devastating crash at Leicester City Football Club more than six years ago.
00:16They were Khun Vichay Srivadhanaprabha, Eric Swoffa, Isabella Lekovic, Lusara Sukumai and Kavaporn Poonparev.
00:28They were innocent victims of a tragic accident that never needed to happen.
00:37While it was no part of the inquest to attribute blame, the evidence heard told a story of basic engineering failures by Leonardo.
00:50While the accident sequence began with the seizure of a critical bearing which led to a cascade of failures
00:59in the tail rotor system that was vital for keeping the helicopter under control,
01:06the causes of this tragedy can be traced back to fundamental design errors and the failure to mitigate known risks.
01:17During the two and a half week inquest, the jury heard that the helicopter crashed,
01:24even though it was still new, even though it was properly maintained,
01:30and even though it met minimum certification standards, and even though there was no pilot error whatsoever.
01:39In fact, Eric Swoffa, the pilot, was a highly competent and very experienced pilot
01:46who did everything in his power to control what became an uncontrollable helicopter
01:53when the tail rotor suddenly failed shortly after take-off from the King Power Stadium.
02:00The inquest heard evidence that the design was such
02:05that it was a matter of time before something catastrophic occurred.
02:10It was an accident waiting to happen.