Duangphet Phromthep, certainly one of 12 boys rescued from a Thai collapse 2018, dies in UK | CNN

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CNN
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Duangphet Phromthep, one of many 12 boys rescued from a flooded Thai cave after a weekslong operation that drew world consideration in 2018, has died within the UK, British and Thai officers introduced Wednesday.

Phromthep, who was enrolled in a soccer academy in Leicestershire, England, died after being rushed to hospital on Sunday, Leicestershire Police stated in a press release to CNN.

Th northern regional department of the Thai authorities’s public relations arm stated on Fb that Phromthep, 17, died resulting from an accident, with out offering extra particulars.

“The environment at his home in Chiang Rai province was stuffed with sorrow,” PR Thailand’s assertion stated.

Zico Basis, a Thai non-profit group which had helped Phromthep examine within the UK by way of a soccer scholarship, wrote on Fb Wednesday: “Zico Basis wish to categorical our sorrow for the move of Dom Duangpet Phromthep, a scholarship scholar from Zico basis,” posting an image of Phromthep.

CNN has reached out to The Brooke Home Faculty Soccer Academy, the place Phromthep was enrolled on a soccer scholarship. The Academy stated it might be releasing a press release.

Phromthep was the captain of the Wild Boars youth soccer group which was rescued after being trapped for greater than two weeks in a flooded cave community within the northern Thai province of Chiang Rai in the summertime of 2018.

The 12 boys and their coach grew to become trapped when rising flood water reduce them off deep contained in the cave, sparking what grew to become a close to three-week worldwide rescue effort.

Divers concerned within the rescue described treacherous situations, with fast-moving shallow water passing by way of very slender passages.

In a sophisticated three-day last operation, the boys had been cut up into teams of 4 and supplied with 5-millimeter-thick wetsuits, full face masks respiratory equipment and air bottles.

Every boy was taken out by two divers, who carried their oxygen tanks and guided them by way of murky tunnels. Every rescue took a number of hours, with a lot of the time spent beneath water.

Essentially the most harmful half was the primary kilometer, throughout which the divers and boys are required to squeeze by way of a slender, flooded channel.

Rescuers wanted to carry the boys’ oxygen tanks in entrance of them and swim pencil-like by way of submerged holes. Having accomplished this part, the boys had been then handed over to separate, specialist rescue groups, who helped help them by way of the rest of the cave, a lot of which they might wade by way of.

Phromthep, often called Dom, left the cave as a part of the second group of boys carried out on greater than two weeks after they had been first trapped. He was certainly one of three boys whose birthdays slipped by whereas they had been deep underground. In his first message to his dad and mom he implored them to not overlook. “I’m high quality, however the climate is kind of chilly. However don’t fear,” he stated. “Don’t overlook my birthday,” he stated.

From hospital, after his rescue, he stated he wished pork and rice to eat and thanked everybody for all their assist.

All 12 of the rescued boys and their coach had been then transported to a close-by hospital for recuperation.

Members of the family greeted the information of their rescue with aid and tears of happiness, punching the air once they heard that their boys had been alive.

Reacting to Phromthep’s demise, Prajak Sutham, one of many Thai cave survivors, wrote on Fb: “We have now been by way of collectively loads, good and dangerous instances. We had went by way of life and demise conditions collectively, whenever you advised me to attend and see the time you grew to become a nationwide participant. I at all times believed that you possibly can do it. Final time we met earlier than you left to UK, I jokingly advised you that, whenever you’re again I’d ask to your signature. Relaxation in Peace Bro, we at all times have one another, the 13 of us.”

The Doi Wao temple in his hometown in Chiang Rai additionally expressed their condolences to Phromthep’s mom.