Duangphet Promthep, aka “Dom”, one of the 12 “Wild Boar” soccer team who were trapped, with their coach, in Tham Luang Cave in Chiang Rai for 17 days in 2018, has died while studying at a prestigious soccer school in England.

The abbot of Phra That Doi Wao Temple in Chiang Rai told Thai PBS that he received a call from Duangphet’s mother at 6am to inform him that her boy had been admitted to hospital for 2-3 days after a fall. He was put on a ventilator but eventually died.

The abbot also said that, at this stage, there are no more details about the boy’s death and his family is in the process of contacting the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs to arrange for his remains to be flown home to Chiang Rai for the funeral.

Duangphet won a scholarship in August last year to study at Brooke House College Football Academy, a prestigious soccer school in Leicester, thanks to the Sports Education Foundation and the Zico Foundation.

The report of the death of Duangphet was posted on social media today (Wednesday) by an official of Tham Luang Khun Nam Nang Non National Park, Kamon Khunngamkwamdee. The many fans of the Wild Boar football team have expressed their condolences to Duangphet’s family.

The plight of the 12 footballers and their coach, trapped deep inside the flooded cave, was turned into a rescue drama movie, watched by audiences around the world. More than 10,000 men and women of many nationalities, including cave divers, mountain climbers and special forces, joined the nail-biting race against time and the rising water in the cave to save them.