Captain of boys’ soccer team rescued in Thailand cave in 2018 dead at 17. Duangpetch ‘Dom’ Promthep, rescued from flooded Thailand cave, was attending soccer academy in England.
The captain of the boys’ soccer team that was dramatically rescued from a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018 has died in England while attending a sports academy, reports say.
Duangpetch “Dom” Promthep of the “Wild Boars” team was one of 12 players who along with their coach became trapped in the Tham Luang cave during an unexpected rainstorm in June that year.
Faced with tremendous challenges, a team of the world’s most experienced divers navigated the maze of flooded, narrow cave tunnels. The divers were joined by Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to complete the daring rescue mission.
“Duangpetch Promthep has now gone to another world,” Supatpong Methigo, a Buddhist monk who taught the team in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province, wrote on Facebook, according to Reuters. “I hope he will be reborn and become my student again in the next life.”
Promthep, 17, was found unconscious in his dorm room at the soccer academy he was attending in Leicestershire since late 2022, the BBC reports. He later died at a local hospital.
“I am saddened to hear that Dom Duangpetch Phromthep, captain of the Wild Boars football team from the 2018 Tham Luang cave incident, has died in the UK,” British Ambassador to Thailand Mark Gooding tweeted. “My condolences to Dom’s family and friends.”
The cause of his death was not immediately clear, but Leicestershire Police told the BBC it is not being classified as suspicious.