The teen football player who died this week, four years after he was rescued from a flooded cave, had been discovered unconscious in his dormitory room in England several days earlier, according to his football mentor.
A Brooke House College teacher found Duangphet “Dom” Phromthep, 17, unresponsive in his room on Sunday in Leicestershire, according to Kiatisuk “Zico” Senamuang, whose foundation sponsored Duangphet’s scholarship to attend the boarding school.
Zico detailed in an online discussion last night that Duangphet was immediately taken to a hospital where he was placed on a ventilator. On Tuesday, doctors said his breathing and heart had grown too weak and he was not responding to treatment.
‘Wild Boar’ rescued from Thai cave dies in UK
Duangphet was pronounced dead Tuesday.
No clear reason for his death has been made public, despite rumors recycled in media reports that he had suffered a head injury. According to other reports, his family in Thailand said they had been notified that he had been hurt in an accident.
Zico said he also did not know the official cause of Duangphet’s death and was waiting on word from the hospital.
Kiattisuk said Duangphet passed a health evaluation before he traveled to England late last year.
Duangphet’s family was notified about their teen boy’s death. His mother, Thanaporn Phromthep, who was on Kiattisuk’s Zoom call last night, said that she would like to have a Buddhist monk perform a rites at Duangphet’s British dormitory to summon his soul back to Thailand.
Ian Smith, the principal at Brooke House College, said in a statement that the institution was working with the Thai Embassy to help return Duangphet’s body to Thailand.
“Dom was a popular boy who conducted himself with generosity of spirit and we wish him peace,” Smith wrote. “He will be hugely missed by us all.”
During the cave saga in which he and his fellow football team and coach were trapped 18 days before being rescued, Duangphet was 13 at the time.
He later won an athletic scholarship to study at a school in Chiang Mai province before obtaining the scholarship 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.”
Duangpetch’s teammates and football coach were among those who left tributes on social media.
“I waited all day and hoped it was a miracle, but there was no miracle. I was hoping that the news about your death would be just another false news story, but it’s not,” wrote football coach Ekkapol Chantawong, who was also trapped inside the cave along with Duangphet. “Rest in peace, my brother. If the next life exists, we’ll be seeing each other.”
“You told me that we will pursue our dream in football. You’re the one tho inspired me to improve myself and catch up with you,” Chanin “Titan” Viboonrungruang, who was also rescued along with Duangphet, wrote online. “If there is a next life, I hope that we can play football together again.”
Mark Gooding, the British ambassador to Thailand, expressed his condolences online.
“I am saddened to hear that Duangphet ‘Dom’ Phromthep, captain of the Wild Boars football team from the 2018 Tham Luang cave incident, has died in the United Kingdom. My condolences to Dom’s family and friends,” he tweeted in Thai on Wednesday afternoon.
ผมเสียใจที่ได้ยินข่าวว่าดอม ดวงเพชร พรมเทพ กัปตันทีมฟุตบอลหมูป่าจากเหตุการณ์ถ้ำหลวงเมื่อปี 2561 เสียชีวิตในสหราชอาณาจักร ผมขอแสดงความเสียใจกับครอบครัวและเพื่อน ๆ ของดอม#13หมูป่า https://t.co/2bk5rxRuaN
— Mark Gooding (@markgooding) February 15, 2023
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