The BBC News has confirmed that one of 12 boys and their coach rescued in a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018 committed suicide while at school in the UK. In August 2022, Duangphet ‘Dom’ Phromthep, who was 18 at the time of his death, was awarded a scholarship to attend Brooke House Academy in Leicestershire, around 150 kilometres north of London.
Duangphet, who was captain of the Wild Boar (Mu Pa) football team at the time of their dramatic rescue from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai, was found unresponsive in his room at Brooke House College on February 12. He died at Kettering General Hospital two days later.
According to a BBC report, senior coroner Professor Catherine Mason has ruled that the teenager’s death was the result of suicide.
“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. The police investigation has found no evidence of third-party involvement or suspicious circumstances.”
Until the coroner’s ruling, a number of reports in Thai-language media outlets had stated that the young footballer had fallen, resulting in a head injury that killed him.
Duangphet, who went by the nickname “Dom” was rescued from the flooded Tham Luang Cave in June 2018, along with his 12 team mates and their coach.
The unprecedented rescue, which was watched around the world, was led by Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn and involved Thai Navy Seals and foreign cave divers.
The rescue has since become the subject of a number of films and documentaries. Following the rescue, Duangphet went to Chiang Mai to study sports, before travelling to the UK last September to take up his scholarship place.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
