16.02.2023
A member of Thailand’s football team who was eventually rescued from a rock cave for two weeks has died suddenly in the UK. The cause of death was not released.
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) In 2018, 12 members and coaches of the Thai youth football team “Wild Boars” were trapped while exploring the Sleeping Beauty Cave in Chiang Rai Province. It took days for international rescuers to successfully free them.
The captain of the football team died suddenly in the UK on Tuesday (February 14). The 17-year-old nicknamed “Dom” (Duangpetch Promthep) was studying at a football academy in England before his death. He was taken to hospital after being found unconscious in his room on Sunday. He died two days later.
News of Dom’s death was confirmed by the football academy and the Zico Foundation in Thailand, which funded his study in the UK. The cause of death was not released. After investigation, the local police stated that “there is no need to treat it as a suspicious incident.”
Football Academy devastated by Dom’s sudden death
Soccer academy director Ian Smith said the school was “deeply saddened” by his death and the community was “deeply saddened and shocked” by the news.
Kiatisuk Senamuang, the head of the Zico Foundation and former Thailand national team captain and coach, said in an online news conference that he did not know the cause of Dom’s death, but that Dom appeared to be in good health.
Dom’s mother told a news conference that she hoped a Buddhist monk in the UK would perform a Buddhist ceremony for Dom so that, according to Buddhist beliefs, his soul would not be trapped where he died.
Caving in trouble
Dom was the captain of the “Wild Boars” soccer team in Chiang Rai province in northern Thailand.
In June 2018, 12 soccer players aged 11 to 16 and their coach were exploring Sleeping Beauty’s Cave when they were trapped by rapidly rising floodwaters. He was eventually trapped in the depths of the cave about 4 kilometers from the mouth of the cave.
A total of 140 divers participated in the rescue operation, and all team members and their instructors were successfully rescued in two batches.
The incident made global media headlines at the time and was later made into a movie and TV series.
(AP, AFP, Reuters)
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