Four out of five killed in helicopter crash outside Leicester City's ground could have survived had it not caught fire

The inquest into the deaths of a former Leicester City owner and the four other people who died back in 2018 in an aircraft accident has heard four out of five them could have survived, had the helicopter not caught fire.

Pilot Eric Swaffer, his partner Izabela Lechowicz, and passengers Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare were also on board that evening.

The hearing into the crash outside the King Power Stadium on the 27th of October 2018, is due to last up to three weeks.

Today, at Leicester City Hall, the jury was told that the victims - including Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha - would have succumbed to the fumes "rapidly" causing them to lose consciousness.

Dr Michael Biggs, a forensic pathologist who completed post-mortem examinations for all five people, told the hearing that the cause of death for four of them, was inhalation of smoke.

Dr Biggs told the hearing: "It was a very intense fire in an enclosed space, the occupants would have succumbed quickly to the effects of the smoke inhalation."

The pathologist added that the four who died from the smoke also had some minor traumatic injuries, including lower spine fractures, which are consistent with "crush fractures", but these would not have been fatal.

He said: "There is nothing of the other four individuals that inevitably would have been fatal. It is entirely possible, indeed likely, that had it not have been for the fire, they (the injuries) would have been survivable."

The pilots partner, Izabela Lechowicz, cause of death was given as "significant" head and chest injuries.

The pathologist said of her injuries: "In my opinion Izabela would have died extremely quickly at the point of impact due to traumatic injuries rather than this being a case of smoke inhalation after the fire started."

He added that there was no evidence of medical incapacitation shown during the pilot's post-mortem examination which may have contributed to the crash.

The inquest has heard that a mechanical failure in the tail rotor of the Leonardo AW169, caused a bearing to "seize and lock", subsequently it spun out of control and burst into flames after touching the ground.

The helicopter had only travelled for 330 hours before the incident and was "in the early stages of its life".

We'll have more details from the inquest as it goes on.

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