Thai flooded cave survivor Duangpetch Promthep dies in the UK | OneFootball

Duangpetch Promthep, the captain Thailand-based football team Wild Boars, has sadly passed away in England.

According to Semafor, the 17-year-old known as ‘Dom’ was found in his college football academy dorm in Leicestershire by a teacher on Sunday and was rushed by ambulance to hospital.

However, Promthep was unresponsive to treatment and reportedly passed away on Tuesday. The cause of Promthep’s death is unclear, but reports in Thailand say the teenager suffered a head injury.

Promthep had moved to the United Kingdom after enrolling at the Brooke House College football academy in Leicester to study and play football on a scholarship supported by the Zico Foundation.

News of Promthep’s death comes five years after the teenager and his teammates were rescued from a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018.

He was among 12 other young footballers on the Wild Boars team who, along with their coach, were trapped by rising floodwaters in Northern Chiang Rai, prompting an international rescue operation that lasted over two weeks.

The rescue mission, which saw over 10,000 people, including professional divers involved, gripped global attention. But the youngster who was the team captain and his teammates were eventually found.

Promthep’s death came as a shock to many people, including his teacher Supatpong Methigo who took to her social media to deliver her farewell to the teenager.

“Duangpetch Promthep has now gone to another world,” Methigo wrote on her Facebook page. “I hope he will be reborn and become my student again in the next life.”

Several of his Wild Boars teammates have also taken to their social media accounts to pay tribute, while the Brooke House College also released a statement expressing their grief at the untimely incident.

“Brooke House College is devastated to confirm the passing of our student, Duangphet Phromthep, known as Dom, yesterday in hospital,” the statement read.

“This event has left our college community deeply saddened and shaken.

“We unite in grief with all of Dom’s family, friends, former teammates, and those involved in all parts of his life, as well as everyone affected in any way by this loss in Thailand and throughout the college’s global family.”