A helicopter believed to be carrying Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Leicester City’s chairman, crashed outside the King Power Stadium following the club’s match on Saturday night.

A source briefed by the football club said that Vichai was one of at least five people on the flight. It is not known whether there were any survivors. Police said on Sunday afternoon that they were working towards providing the public with an update on what had happened.

The incident occurred around an hour after the final whistle. The Thai owner’s helicopter crashed near a car park near the south-east corner of the stadium shortly after taking off from the pitch at around 8.30pm.

Eyewitness reports indicated that the helicopter only just cleared the roof of the stands, stayed in the air briefly and spiralled down to earth after reportedly developing a fault with its tail rotor. A huge fireball erupted and the air smelt of burning fuel in the hours after the crash.

Emergency services rushed to the scene to tackle the fire and search the wreckage, with the area eventually cordoned off by Leicestershire police.