Family of deceased Thai teen saved in cave rescue receive his ashes from England

The family of the deceased Thai teen, Duangpetch Promthep, or “Dom,” received his ashes from England in Bangkok. Dom was the captain of the Wild Boars football team who was saved in a dramatic cave rescue back in 2018.

According to the Straits Times, Dom went on to play in England at Brooke House College Football Academy after receiving a scholarship from the Zico Foundation in 2022.

He was only 17 when he reportedly had an accident at the dormitory, which led to his death.

The 17 year old’s ashes were flown back from England to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport after being blessed upon their return from England.

His shocking death was attributed to a fall in his dormitory room on February 12. A teacher found him and took him to the hospital. But, two days later, the hospital reported his breathing had weakened and was unresponsive. Although his cause of death has not been released, authorities say it is not suspicious.

Dom’s body was cremated last Tuesday in Leicester with a funeral service attended by his friends, teachers, Kiatisuk and Thani Thongphakdi, the Thai Ambassador to the UK, along with others.

His family requested for Dom to be cremated in Britain “so he can continue playing football there.”

When his ashes arrived in Bangkok, assistant abbot Phra Sopon Wachiraporn of Bangkok’s Arun Ratchawararam Temple performed a religious rite on the ashes’ container.

A prayer ceremony for Dom’s ashes was scheduled for yesterday at Phra That Doi Wao Temple in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district. The ashes were then released into the water in the provinces’ Chiang Saen district today, according to family members.

On June 23, 2018, 12 members of the Wild Boars football team – aged 11 to 16 years old – got stuck in a flooded cave system in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand with their 25 year old football coach Nopparat Kanthawong. At the time, 13 year old Dom was the Wild Boars’ team captain.

No contact was made with the team for two weeks. On July 2, two British divers miraculously found the group alive on a rock, but the hardest part was yet to come – getting them out of the narrow, flooded cave system.

In an international rescue mission that involved more than 10,000 people, all 12 boys, and their coach were brought out of the cave alive between July 8 – 10, the mission ending 18 days after they went missing.