Duangpetch Promthep, who was rescued from a Thai cave in 2018 along with 11 other boys and their football coach, has died in England.
- Duangpetch Promthep was in England to study at a football academy
- He was 13 when he and his teammates and assistant coach were rescued from a cave complex in Thailand
- His cause of death is not yet clear
He was found unconscious in his dorm on Sunday and died in hospital on Tuesday local time, people in his home town told the BBC.
Promthep, also known as Dom, enrolled in the Brooke House College Football Academy in Leicester late in 2022.
The Zico Foundation, a Thai non-profit organisation that helped him get a scholarship to study in England, posted condolences on Facebook.
At age 13, he was the captain of the Wild Boars football team, which was trapped along with the squad's assistant coach for two weeks in the Tham Luang Nang Non — "the cave of the reclining lady" — in Chiang Rai.
The boys, who were between 11 and 16 years of age, were 4 kilometres inside the fourth-largest cave system in Thailand when rising floodwaters cut off their escape.
Their rescue was followed around the world.
It took a multinational team of cavers and Thai navy SEALs more than a week to find them, after exploring 10 kilometres of passages that were as small as 38 centimetres high.
Assistant coach Ekkapol Chanthawong was emaciated, after sacrificing his share of what food they had.
As carbon dioxide levels built up towards dangerous levels and pumps fought the monsoon season around the clock to clear the cave, rescuers coached the boys and built up their strength.
The sole fatality, former Thai SEAL Saman Gunan, 38, died before the first boy was rescued. He had passed out from lack of oxygen.
When the rescue began it took a full day to shepherd four boys out, with medication helping them relax and small teams of rescuers helping them one by one through the slippery, dangerous terrain.
Video shows at least one person being carried on a stretcher.
The last four boys and the coach were rescued on day three, just before a water pump failed and a few hours before torrential rain hit the area.
Most of the boys had lost 2 kilograms, and at least two had lung infections, but rescuers and doctors said the team survived because of their incredible resilience.
They later said they had decided among themselves that those who lived furthest away would leave first.
"We were thinking, when we get out of the cave, we would have to ride the bicycle home, so the persons who live the furthest away would be allowed to go out first … so that they can go out and tell everyone that we were inside, we were OK," Ekkapol said.