Smoke rises from the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed in a car park outside Leicester City Football Club’s King Power Stadium in Leicester, eastern England, on October 27, 2018.
Ben STANSALL / AFP

A helicopter crashed near the football stadium in the central UK city of Leicester on Saturday, police said.

Sky Sports broadcast pictures of what it said was the helicopter in flames, reporting it belonged to Leicester City Football Club’s Thai owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

The crash took place hours after Leicester drew 1-1 with West Ham in a Premier League match at the King Power Stadium.

Sky Sports said the helicopter took off from the pitch between 8.30pm-8.45pm local time (1930-1945 GMT) but developed problems shortly afterward with its tail rotor and crashed in a nearby car park.

Leicestershire Police tweeted, “We are dealing with an incident in the vicinity of the King Power Stadium. Emergency services are aware and dealing.”

The ambulance service also tweeted, “We are also in attendance and will update when possible.”

Meanwhile, broadcaster and former Leicester footballer Gary Lineker tweeted: “Hearing that the Leicester City owners’ helicopter has crashed in the club’s car park.”