Football team owner's helicopter crashes near stadium after premier league match
Leicester : A helicopter belonging to Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha crashed on Saturday near the stadium of his Premier League club Leicester City. The helicopter was seen enveloped in flames in mobile phone images from the scene and an AFP photographer later saw smoke coming from the wreckage. It crashed shortly after take-off following Saturday's game against West Ham in a car park close to King Power Stadium -- a scene of jubilation two years ago when underdogs Leicester City won the Premier League in a remarkable footballing feat.
"Emergency services are currently at the King Power Stadium where an aircraft came down in a car park behind the ground," police said.
Thai businessman Vichai, who has poured millions into the club, often takes off from the pitch in his helicopter when he attends a Leicester home game but it is not known whether he was in the aircraft when it crashed.
'A huge fireball'
Freelance photographer Ryan Brown, who was covering the game, told BBC Radio 5 Live he saw the helicopter rise out of the stadium before it crashed.
"Literally the engine stopped and I turned around, and it made a bit of a whirring noise. It turned silent, blades started spinning and then there was a big bang," he said.
He said he saw "a huge fireball" when he ran to the scene.
The identities of the pilot and any passengers on board have not yet been confirmed. It is also not yet known if anyone on the ground was injured.
"We are assisting Leicestershire Police and the emergency services in dealing with a major incident at King Power Stadium," the club said in a statement.
Vichai, who owns the King Power company, bought the club in 2010 and became chairman the following February.
He is a beloved figure in the club and the city.
"Thoughts and prayers with all -- particularly owners who've done so much for Club and our City," Leicester's mayor Peter Soulsby tweeted.
Leicester footballers Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire both tweeted praying hands emojis.
Sky Sports said the helicopter took off from the pitch between 1930 and 1945 GMT but developed problems shortly afterwards with its tail rotor.
The local ambulance service said it was alerted at 2138 GMT.
"We sent a doctor, two paramedics in ambulance cars, a crewed ambulance and our Hazardous Area Response Team, with the first resource arriving within two minutes of the call," it tweeted.
Air crash investigators are also examining the scene.
courtesy : sports.ndtv.com
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Rahul Gandhi pledges to remove 50% reservation cap, calls for nationwide caste census
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Ahmedabad: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday said that the Congress party is committed to removing the 50% ceiling on reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in education and government jobs.
Speaking at a Congress session in Ahmedabad, Gandhi said the party would implement across India what the Telangana government has recently done. Telangana had recently passed a bill raising the reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) to 42%, taking the overall reservation above the 50% limit set by the Supreme Court in a landmark 1992 judgment.
“Telangana has taken a revolutionary step and shown the way to the country. I want to assure you that this 50 per cent wall will be broken. What happened in Telangana, we will do in Delhi and for the entire country,” Gandhi said.
He argued that the population composition in Telangana—where around 90% of residents belong to OBCs, extremely backward classes, Dalits, minorities, and Adivasis—is similar to the rest of the country. Given this, he said, the existing limit on reservations does not reflect social realities and should be dismantled.
Gandhi reiterated the Congress party’s demand for a nationwide caste census, stating that without accurate data on caste composition, it is not possible to ensure fair distribution of government benefits, educational opportunities, and jobs.
He also referred to the Supreme Court’s 1992 ruling in the Indra Sawhney (Mandal Commission) case, which capped reservations at 50%. The Congress has consistently argued that the cap restricts justice for marginalised groups and needs to be re-evaluated.
Earlier this week, during a 'Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan' in Patna, Gandhi had said, “I told Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha, right in front of him: if you don't dismantle this artificial 50 per cent barrier on reservations, we will break it, destroy it, and throw it away.”
In Ahmedabad, Gandhi also accused the BJP of having an “anti-Dalit mindset,” referring to a recent incident in Rajasthan, where a former BJP MLA reportedly used Ganga water to "purify" a temple after a Congress leader from a Dalit background took part in a consecration ceremony.
