Thai boy rescued from flooded cave in 2018 dies in UK during football scholarship
- Duangpetch Promthep was one of the 12 boys of the Wild Boars football team who became trapped in a cave in 2018, sparking an international rescue effort
- He is said to have suffered a head injury and died in a hospital in Leicester on Tuesday
Duangpetch reportedly suffered a head injury after falling on the ground in the English city of Leicester, where he was studying football. He was found unconscious in his dorm on Sunday and died in hospital on Tuesday, according to the BBC.
The teenager’s cause of death is not yet known and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, the Khaosod news site reported.
Supatpong Methigo, a Buddhist monk and Promthep’s former teacher, said the boy’s grandmother informed him of his death on Wednesday. The abbot described Promthep as a “studious and hardworking” child in a Facebook post.
“I hope the dharma you were taught will be with you everywhere and in the next life,” he wrote.
Promthep received a football scholarship from Brook House College Football Academy in Leicester last year. “Today my dream has come true,” he wrote on Instagram after hearing the news.
