Police heard pilot shouting for help

Two police officers who were among the first at the scene of the Leicester City helicopter crash have told an inquest they heard the pilot shouting for help.

Sgt Michael Hooper and PC Stephen Quartermain happened to be driving nearby, having just been released from duty, and were the first emergency service workers at the scene of the crash in 2018 at the club’s King Power Stadium, where five people were killed.

Foxes chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in the crash alongside fellow passengers Kaveporn Punpare, Nusara Suknamai, pilot Eric Swaffer and his partner Izabela Roza Lechowicz.

On Monday, the inquest began in front of a jury, who will determine who the deceased were – and when, where and how they died.

Warning: This story contains details that readers may find upsetting

Sgt Hooper said he could hear the pilot, Mr Swaffer, shouting “get me out of here, help me” from inside the aircraft after it had crashed.

He told the coroner he used his baton to try to break the windscreen of the helicopter to no avail.

Sgt Hooper said he then ran to get a fire extinguisher from his police vehicle in an attempt to “buy [Mr Swaffer] a bit of time”.

He added: “It was incredibly hot at that point. The heat was pretty much unbearable.”

PC Quartermain became emotional as he recalled the moment “flames started to take towards the rear of the aircraft” and realised “the people were going to die”.

He said Mr Swaffer “started to come round” after initially appearing “unconscious”.

He told the inquest the pilot “looked at Mike and I and started shouting ‘help, get me out'”.

Addressing the officers, Philip Shepherd KC, representing the relatives of Mr Vichai, said: “On behalf of the family of Khun Vichai, can I congratulate you on the heroic efforts you made that night to try to save the lives of the people who tragically died.”

Bodyworn footage of the two police officers was shown to the jury as the inquest got under way.

The officers happened to be driving nearby, having recently been released from duty, and were at the scene within a minute of the crash, the inquest heard.

Because the helicopter had come to rest on its left hand side after the crash, the jury was told neither side doors could be accessed, with one set about 2.5m (8.2ft) above the ground and the other against the floor.

It was explained to the jury that it would have required specialist equipment to break the helicopter’s windscreen, which is designed to withstand the impact of a 1kg bird travelling at 180mph (289km/h).

The crash occurred shortly after Leicester City’s 1-1 home draw with West Ham United.

The inquest has also heard from eyewitness, including former grounds manager John Ledwidge, who said the helicopter’s take-off on that evening was “all very routine and normal”.

As someone who was training as a private fixed-wing pilot at the time, he said: “I always watched it [take off] anyway just out of an aviation interest.”

Mr Ledwidge said the helicopter descended very quickly and that he could see it “quite aggressively spinning”.

He said he immediately shouted at his ground staff, who were still around the edges of the pitch to take cover, as he did not know where the helicopter would land.

Mr Ledwidge told the jury he proceeded to run to where he thought the helicopter would come down, to “see if there was anything I could do to help”, and got to an estimated 15 metres from the crash site.

“I could see smoke coming from the rear engines,” he added.

“Within 10 to 15 seconds, I saw the flames start at the rear.

“It was quite an orange glow.”

When asked if he had heard any noise from inside the helicopter, Mr Ledwidge said: “I live with the guilt of not doing more.

“At the point when the fire started, I switched my preservation of life to my team and the people trying to help.”

Mr Ledwidge paid tribute to the late Mr Vichai, describing him as “a great man”.

“I felt a part of a family. That’s probably the best way I can describe it,” he said.

“I’ve never worked at a club like Leicester City. That came from him.”

Darren Pyke, a BT Sport sound engineer who worked on broadcasting the match, told the jury he was at his car outside the stadium when the helicopter was taking off and saw the moment it crashed.

He recalled that one of the police officers who arrived at the scene said it appeared somebody was alive inside.

Mr Pyke said he could not see, adding: “I never saw any signs of life.”

Another witness, Martin Wicks, was part of the maintenance team at Leicester City at the time and was also in the car park when the helicopter came down.

He said it was “making an unusual noise” but that it came down in “quite a controlled manner”.

He said: “It all seemed like it was happening in slow motion.

“It was just a whirlwind of consciousness really.”

Chris Parsons, a station manager for Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, was part of the multi-agency response to the crash.

He explained to the jury the standard protocol of deploying fire engines to a crash and how foam was deployed by officers to create a blanket over the spilled aviation fuel to prevent it from catching fire.

Mr Parsons said a protective screen was placed by fire service workers the day after the crash to preserve the dignity of the deceased, as the bodies were recovered from the site.

A statement from Dr Matthew Woods, a consultant at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, from November 2018 was read out by leading counsel to the inquest, Jonathan Hough KC.

It told the jury how Dr Woods, who responds on a charitable basis as a pre-hospital doctor for East Midlands Ambulance Service, received a message saying a helicopter had crashed at the stadium and that he realised he would be at the scene before any other resource.

Dr Woods’s statement said when he arrived at the scene, he saw that the occupants of the helicopter were “clearly deceased”.

It added: “The injuries sustained were clearly incompatible with life, with evidence of incineration.”

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report, published in September 2023, found the crash was “inevitable” after a sequence of mechanical failures, and said the pilot could have done “very little” to save everyone on board.

The inquest – which is expected to last between two and three weeks – continues.