UNITED KINGDOM: One of the 12 Wild Boars football club members rescued from a flooded Thai cave in 2018 has passed away in the UK. His name was Duangpetch Promthep.
The Zico Foundation, which had funded Duangpetch’s international scholarship, reported that he passed away on Tuesday. Duangpetch had travelled to the UK to enrol in a college football program. The Leicester-based Brooke House College also verified his demise.
The head of the Zico Foundation, Kiatisuk Senamuang, said in an online press conference that Duangpetch, also known as Dom, was found in his dorm by a teacher on Sunday. “He was then taken to the hospital by ambulance,” Senamuang said.
Despite being unresponsive, Duangpetch received medical care at the hospital until Tuesday.
Kiatisuk said, “Dom was very happy playing football there.” He continued, “Dom was very fast, very smart, and full of happiness.”
Ian Smith said: “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.”
Although the cause of Duangpetch’s death has not been determined, the Leicestershire police told that the death was not suspicious.
Duangpetch had posted on social media before relocating to the UK that “today, my dream has come true because I will become a football student in England.”
Duangpetch served as the team captain for the Wild Boars, a football squad that was imprisoned in the Doi Nang non-mountain range’s Tham Luang cave complex in 2018. The release of the children was the focus of a 17-day global operation.
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