One of the 12 boys who were rescued from a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018 has died in Britain, where he was attending a soccer academy.
Duangpetch Promthep, better known as "Dom", was captain of the Wild Boars soccer team, whose seemingly impossible extraction by international divers and Thai navy SEALs captured global attention.
The 17-year-old was found unconscious in his dorm on Sunday and died in hospital on Tuesday local time, according to the BBC. The cause of his death is not yet clear.
The news on Wednesday was shared on social media by a Buddhist monk who taught the boys in Thailand's northern Chiang Rai province.
"Duangpetch Promthep has now gone to another world," Supatpong Methigo wrote on Facebook.
"I hope he will be reborn and become my student again in the next life."
Former Thai national team captain and coach, Kiatisuk Senamuang, whose foundation helped Duangpetch secure a scholarship at the Brooke House College Football Academy in Leicestershire, described him as a polite, kind gentleman who dreamt of playing for his country.
"I wanted to see his dream realised ... but rest well now Dom," he wrote in a post on Instagram.
Duangpetch was 13 when he and his teammates, who were aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old assistant coach, became trapped by flood waters in the Tham Luang cave complex in June 2018.
At the time, the group had set off to explore the caves for an hour.
The group were found nine days later in a flooded chamber four kilometres from the entrance of the caves.
Their complicated extraction started six days later in an unprecedented operation, during which a retired Thai diver died.
Once rescued, the boys were invited to attend a Manchester United match and their story became the subject of books, documentaries and films, including the 2022 film Thirteen Lives and series Thai Cave Rescue.
- With AAP.
Feature Image: AAP.