One of the 13 footballers who survived a flooded Thai cave in 2018, and who died while studying abroad earlier this year, had his death ruled as suicide, according to a coroner.
In a BBC report, Professor Catherine Mason said Duangphet “Dom” Phromthep, the captain of the Wild Boars football team who were trapped inside the Nang Non Cave in Chiang Rai, said that police had found “no evidence of third-party involvement or suspicious circumstances.”
“Mr Phromthep was not known to mental health services, and it is not known why he took the actions that he did. It could not have been foreseen or prevented,” Prof. Mason said in the record of the inquest.
Dom, who was 17, was found unconscious in his dorm room in February at Brooke House College, an elite football academy in Leicestershire, England. The academy is best known to Thai football fans as the home of Leicester City FC, owned by the chairman of Thai duty free monopoly King Power.
He was transported to Kettering General Hospital, where he died two days later. Initial reports did not reveal his cause of death, with his grantor stating that it was an accident.
Funeral rites were held later that month, with ceremonies held in Leicester and the Mae Dai district of Chiang Rai province.
Dom’s inquest was opened on Feb. 22 and concluded on Oct. 4 at Leicester Coroner’s Court.
In 2018, Dom, along with his teammates and coach, were trapped in the Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai after a storm had caused flooding and blocked the exit.
The incident gripped the nation and beyond, as the team spent 18 days stuck in the cave before they were rescued by an international search and rescue team of over 10,000 people.
After the rescue, media spotlight continued to shine on the boys, as the incident spawned numerous books and movies. Three of the boys were stateless but were granted Thai citizenship after the ordeal.
Dom later won an athletic scholarship to study at a school in Chiang Mai province before obtaining the scholarship by the Zico Foundation, by renowned Thai footballer Kiatisuk “Zico” Senamuang, to study in Britain.
“Today my dream came true,” he wrote on social media at the time. “I will be a football student in Britain. I am grateful to everyone that helped with the scholarship to study overseas. I promise I will study hard and do my best.”
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