The Captain Of The Thai Cave Rescue Boys Has Died At 17 & He Was Chasing His Soccer Dream
His teammates are crushed.
Several boys rescued from a Thai cave in 2018. Right: Duangpetch Promthep.
Friends, family, teammates and others around the world are mourning the unexpected death of Duangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys who survived inside a flooded Thai cave for two weeks before they were rescued in 2018.
Promthep, nicknamed Dom, died Sunday afternoon at the age of 17 in the United Kingdom, first responders told the BBC. Promthep's former teacher in Thailand, Supatpong Methigo, also confirmed the news in a Facebook post.
"Duangpetch Promthep has now gone to another world," Methigo wrote, as translated by Reuters. "I hope he will be reborn and become my student again in the next life."
Friends and teammates flooded Methigo's replies with messages of sympathy for Promthep and his loved ones.
Details about Promthep's death were not released, although Leicestershire Police told BBC News that it's not being treated as suspicious. Early reports suggest that he suffered a head injury, but those have not been confirmed.
Promthep was the captain of his soccer team, the Wild Boars, when they ventured into the Tham Luang cave system with their assistant coach in June 2018. Heavy rain quickly flooded most of the cave, leaving the group trapped in an isolated chamber for over two weeks.
Rescue crews spent several days working out the best way to extract the boys, and divers ultimately had to take them out underwater, although one diver died in the process.
The boys made international headlines with their incredible tale of survival and they've since inspired many movies, books and documentaries.
Promthep continued to chase his soccer dream after that rescue, and last year he announced on Instagram that he would be moving to the U.K. to attend Brooke House College Football Academy on a high school scholarship.
"Today my dream has come true," he wrote in an Instagram post at the time.
The Zico Foundation, a Thai non-profit that helped him secure the scholarship, confirmed his death in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
Promthep's Instagram account is filled with photos from his soccer academy in the U.K., both in the classroom and on the pitch.
His final photo shows the inside of a classroom and includes the hashtag "Footballismylife."