Reports have confirmed the passing of Duangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys rescued from a Thai cave in 2018, while in the UK. He was 18 years old and had sustained a head injury, although the exact cause of his death remains unclear.
Before his unfortunate passing, Promthep served as the captain of the Thai boys’ football team, which had been trapped in a cave together with their coach for a harrowing two-week period in 2018.
The young man, also known as Dom, had joined the Brooke House College Football Academy in Leicester just a year prior to his passing.
The Wat Doi Wao temple expressed their condolences to Promthep on Wednesday, February 15, through a heartfelt post on Facebook, accompanying it with images of the team with monks and the message ‘May Dom’s soul rest in peace’.
The Zico Foundation, a Thai non-profit organization which had facilitated Promthep’s scholarship to study in England, also shared their condolences on Facebook.
Promthep was a member of the Wild Boars football team, which had ventured into the Tham Luang cave on June 23, 2018, and subsequently became trapped due to rising flood waters. At the time, he was 13 years old, while his teammates were aged between 11 and 16.
Emerging two weeks later, the boys and their coach were successfully rescued following a dramatic search and rescue operation involving nearly 100 Thai and foreign divers, including a specialized team from the UK. The global attention garnered by this event led to the creation of a six-episode Netflix series.
