Twenty-five-year-old football coach Ekapol Chanthawong has been the subject of near-unanimous praise from netizens and rescuers alike since he and the 12 young teens on his squad were discovered alive by rescuers in Chiang Rai’s Luang Cave late Monday night.
But Thai police officials yesterday refused to rule out potential negligence charges for leading the boys, aged 11-16, into the cave in the first place.
“I decline to answer this issue for now. We have to study the matter carefully first,” Mae Sai Police Station chief Col. Komsan Saard-an told Khaosod when asked about the possibility.
While the possibility exists, however, it does seem remote given the narrative surrounding his actions since becoming trapped.
One of the Thai Navy SEALs who encountered the 13 survivors in the cave revealed, via Sanook, that Ekapol or “Aek” is currently the physically weakest of the group.
The young coach gave all the available water and snacks the team had brought with them to the kids — without having any himself, the SEAL representative told the Thai-language outlet.
He also praised Ekapol for making sure the team remained calm and conserved their energy by advising them to lie still and sleep as as much as possible, adding that the young assistant coach had not allowed the children to drink dirty flood water, instead collecting water that dripped from the ceiling for them.
“Though he was scared, he remained extremely collected and was always there for the kids. He is extremely selfless,” said the SEAL. Ekapol is one of the few survivors in the “yellow category,” indicating that he has sustained slight injuries.
In an interview with Komchadluek, Naparat Guntawong or “Nop,” head coach of the Wild Boars football team and Ekapol’s colleague, offered hitherto unknown details about the 25 year old, saying he had grown up an orphan and lived for eight years in a temple in Lampoon.
Naparat told the outlet that he was always confident that his assistant coach would make sure the team remained safe due to his “ever-charitable attitude,” relative expertise on Luang Cave and commendable bravery.
“He’s been with the team since around 2013-2014… He loves the kids a lot. He’s always taken care of them very well and is extremely close to the team,” Coach Naparat said.
While police were cautious in addressing the question of Ekapol’s culpability in the situation, others, like popular internet personality E-jeab Liab Duan, who has 2.5 million Facebook followers, were less so. The anonymous account, known for occasionally taking contrarian or strident positions, took the young coach to task for placing his team in danger in a post that had been liked more than 91,000 times and shared 18,000 more as of publication.
From a legal standpoint, however, criminal law attorney, Ananchai Chaiyadech, told KhaoSod that it’s unlikely Ekopal will be charged given that he did not mean to put the children in danger.
“Before they went inside, the rain hasn’t started yet,” he reasoned. “So they must have thought there wouldn’t be any problem. The law also looks at intent.”
It was reportedly a known fact among parents and head coach Naparat that the team often went on adventures together like cycling, exploring caves, and swimming in waterfalls, and had actually been to Luang Cave four times prior.
