One of 12 footballers who were rescued from a cave in Thailand in 2018 after a rescue effort that received worldwide attention and support has died in the United Kingdom.
Duangpetch Promthep was the captain of the team and was 17 years old.
It is not yet clear what Duangpetch Promthep died off. According to a British media report, he would have suffered a head injury. More is not known. Promthep, 17, has been studying at Brooke House College Football Academy in Leicestershire since late last year.
Many former teammates paid tribute to him on social media, and his mother took the sad news to the Wat Doi Wai temple in their hometown in Chiang Rai.
Promthep was 13 years old when he got stuck in a cave in the Thai province of Chiang Rai on June 23, 2018, with his trainer and 11 teammates from The Wild Boars. They visited the cave, but the rising water prevented them from getting out.
In the end, two weeks would remain, while an international rescue operation with almost a hundred divers was set up that later became films, documentaries and books written about. Finally, the boys and the coach were taken outside and sedated with ketamine.