A teenage boy who was rescued from a flooded Thailand cave in 2018 has died in the UK, BBC reported. Duangpetch Promthep was the captain of the Thai boys' football team, which was trapped in a cave along with their coach while exploring the six-mile Tham Luang cave in the Doi Nang Non-mountain range in June 2018.
The cause of his death is still unclear but he is thought to have sustained a head injury while on a scholarship at a sports academy in the UK. The teenager was found unconscious in his dorm in Leicestershire on Sunday and taken to hospital, where he died on Tuesday, the BBC report added.
Notably, Duangpetch Promthep enrolled in the Brooke House College Football Academy in Leicester late last year when he was 17 after winning a scholarship.
Many of his teammates from the cave rescue shared the news of his death on social media and expressed their grief.
One of his friends, Prachak Sutham, who was also in the cave, wrote on Facebook: "Rip my dear friend. The 12 of us have been through a lot of things together, sadness, happiness, risk of death, and many difficulties together. You told me to wait and see when you join the national team. I always believed that you can do it. When we met last time before going to England, I still told you jokingly that I have to ask for your signature when I come back. Rest in peace, my friend. We will always be 13 of us."
Zico Foundation, a Thai non-profit that had helped Mr. Promthep win a scholarship to study in England, also expressed condolences on Facebook. ''Zico Foundation would like to express its condolences and condolence for the passing away of Little Dom Duangphet Phromthep, a student of Zico Foundation.''
The operation to save the boys, who wandered into the cave after a football training session and became stuck as floodwaters surged in, involved expert cave divers from across the world. The rescue ended on July 10, 2018, when the last of the group was brought to safety. Mr. Promthep was 13 at the time, while his teammates were aged between 11 and 16.
The dramatic rescue made headlines around the world, and various films and books were made to retell the extraordinary story, including a six-episode Netflix series named 'Thai Cave Rescue' and a Prime Video movie, 'Thirteen lives'.
