Duangpetch Promthep was one of the players from the boys’ soccer team that was stuck in a Thai cave in 2018 and eventually rescued by a team of divers working feverishly to rescue the boys before the cave flooded. Adding a reminder about what happened during that incident, Fox News Digital reported that:
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.
Eventually, all the boys were rescued by the brave, highly competent divers to the applause and relief of the world.
Now, however, Dom is dead. He was found unconscious in his dorm room in the soccer academy he was attending in Leicestershire and then died at a local hospital. He had been attending the soccer academy since late 2022. His cause of death is not yet clear, but his mother said that there was an “accident” that led to a “head injury,” as that outlet reports, saying:
The devastated mother of the Thai cave rescue survivor who died in the UK has said she is wracked with grief over his death.
Thanapron Phromthep said this morning she has not slept since the sudden death of her son Duangpetch ‘Dom’ Phromthep, 17, following an ‘accident’ in Leicestershire, on February 14.
The 17-year-old nicknamed ‘Dom’, former captain of the Wild Boars football team, rescued in 2018 from the flooded Tham Luang cave system in northern Thailand by British divers, was reported to have suffered a ‘head injury’.
British Ambassador to Thailand, Mark Gooding, tweeted “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. My condolences to Dom’s family and friends.”
Supatpong Methigo, a Buddhist monk who taught the team that Dom played on in one of Thailand’s northern provinces, Chiang Rai, wrote on Facebook “Duangpetch Promthep has now gone to another world. I hope he will be reborn and become my student again in the next life.”
The Daily Mail also reported that Dom’s friends have gone to great lengths to help repatriate his body and remain close, saying:
‘I am grateful for Dom’s friends. They have always loved and cared for each other dearly.’
Thanapron and her grieving family made religious offerings of Dom’s favourite food and drinks, as well as flowers, to monks this morning, in accordance with Buddhist beliefs.
She said: ‘It’s been hard for us to sleep. We woke up at 2 am and prepared the food and incense for the monks.’
Dom’s friends from the Wild Boars have agreed to help repatriate his body so proper Buddhist rites can be conducted in Thailand.
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1
"*" indicates required fields