Boy rescued from Thai cave was found unconscious in dormitory

EXCLUSIVE: Boy who survived 18 days in flooded Thai cave five years ago and died in Britain aged 17 after winning football academy scholarship had been found unconscious on the floor of his UK dormitory

• Duangpetch Promthep was among the 12 boys trapped in the cave in 2018
• The cause of death is unclear but reports say he sustained a head injury
• The teenager won a ‘dream’ football scholarship to the UK in late 2022 

The mystery of Thai cave rescue survivor Duangphet Promthep’s death deepened last night after it emerged he was found unconscious on the floor of his dormitory in the UK.

The 17-year-old nicknamed ‘Dom’, former captain of the Wild Boars football team, rescued in 2018 from the flooded Tham Luang cave system in northern Thailand by British divers, was reported to have suffered a ‘head injury’.

At the time of his death, Dom was studying at Brooke House College in Market Harborough, Leicestershire. 

Kiatisuk Senamuang, former Thai national football team coach and chairman of the Zico Foundation which sponsored the gifted young footballer, described himself as ‘shocked and stunned’ at the news of the young man’s sudden death.

He said Promthep was found laid down unconscious on the ground in his room in the academy’s dormitory and was immediately taken to hospital.

Duangpetch Promthep (pictured centre) was among the 12 young football players on the Wild Boars team who became trapped by rising floodwaters for two weeks

Last year Promthep celebrated his first Christmas in the UK after moving to enroll at a Leicester football academy 

Mr Senamuang, known, as Coach Zico, said that Dom had been hospitalized for a few days and passed away on Tuesday.

READ MORE: WHAT BECAME OF THE WILD BOARS FOOTBALL TEAM AFTER RESCUE? 

So far, the cause of death is unclear and there was no witness to what happened and hospital tests are still awaited.

‘My thoughts are with his family and friends,’ said Zico. ‘I think back to his dream of becoming a professional footballer, representing his country and his voice keeps speaking in my head’ he said, choking back tears.

Asked if Dom had any health issues earlier, the coach said he was very healthy and a full health check had been carried out to obtain his student visa.

The news came as his mother made a heartfelt plea for his ‘body and soul’ to be brought back to Thailand after his mysterious death at a football academy in the UK.

Meanwhile, social media accounts of Dom’s friends and family were full of tributes to the boy whose image captured the nation’s hearts as he and his team survived their ordeal.

Twelve members of the team, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old assistant coach were trapped in the flooded cave for 18 days by sudden rainfall.

The massive successful international effort to bring them out alive, spearheaded by expert British cave divers, was portrayed recently in the gripping Hollywood movie starring Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen.

Dom had been accepted on a football scholarship to an academy in Leicestershire and had passed a full health check as part of the visa process, it was revealed.

Promthep, circled, is pictured with members of his Wild Boar football team following the rescue

Promthep was filmed smiling at the camera of the rescue team after he and his team waited for 18 days in the darkness of the cave

Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton and Viggo Mortensen in a scene from ‘Thirteen Lives’

At the time of his death, Dom was studying at Brooke House College in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, on a scholarship

Promthep (pictured with his father) promised he would ‘study hard’ in the UK

Brooke House College has said it is ‘devastated’ by the loss of Promthep

Promthep shared several snaps taken whilst enrolled at the football academy 

The teenager also shared pictures of him working hard in lessons in between his football training

Promthep also shared with his followers his love for traditional English fry ups 

Promthep (centre) pictured on a trip to London Bridge last year after moving to the UK

Meanwhile Dom’s mother Thanaporn Promthep, made a moving appeal for help bringing back her beloved son’s body and for help organizing a Buddhist ritual in the UK to ensure his soul was also brought back to Thailand.

Who is Vernon Unsworth and where is he now?: Brit diver who rescued 12 Thai boys and was called ‘pedo’ by Elon Musk

‘Our family is not rich and recently he was our main breadwinner. Please help us bring his body back,’ said his mother.

Mr Senamuang insisted he would do his best to help and offered moral support to Dom’s mother and her family, saying ‘Please be strong mother’. He added that Dom was a good boy everyone loves him.

‘Our family knows that everyone in the foundation loves Dom and he was loved by Coach Zico like his own son’ said Mrs Promthep.

On his Facebook page, coach Zico wrote: ‘Rest in peace, you were my lovely student, polite and gentleman, generous, had a dream to become a professional footballer playing for national team, had a good technique and ready to learn, were a fast learner. I would love to see your dream future but…���� RIP Dom.’

The former monk who was the boy’s coach, also trapped in the cave, Eakapol Chantawong, aka Coach Eak, said on his Facebook page: ‘Dom, you will be in our memory forever. 

‘You will be a model to the junior in our team as a fighter who never give up in a path of football. May your soul rest in peace Dom Duangpetch Phromthep, one of the former 13 members of Wild Boars team.’

Promthep was invited to the British embassy in Bangok by Deputy Ambassador Mr Dave Thomas after receiving his football scholarship

The football-mad teenager described it as a ‘dream’ to move to the UK and study

He wrote: ‘Today my dream came true. I’m going to be a football student in England’

Promthep and his team’s rescue from the cave system is still a topic of national interest 

Former team-mate Phiphat Phothi, aka Nick, another of the Wild Boars, said simply: ‘RIP Dom, your future was bright. You will be in my memory forever’.

East Midlands Ambulance Service said in a statement: ‘We received a call at 12.48pm on Sunday 12 February to a private address in Market Harborough.

‘The caller reported a medical emergency. We sent three paramedics in ambulance cars, a crewed ambulance and the air ambulance was also in attendance.

‘We transported one patient via land ambulance to Kettering General Hospital.’

Promthep and his team’s rescue from the cave system is still a topic of national interest. 

A pool known as the Emerald Pool, where water from the cave rescue was pumped, and a statue of a former Thai Navy Seal who tragically died during the three-week rescue operation has been promoted as tourist attractions by the Chiang Rai provincial public relations office.

Saman Kunan, the 37-year-old former Thai Navy Seal, died of asphyxiation during the rescue operation while delivering oxygen to the trapped football team. 

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