PUBLISHED : 29 Oct 2023 at 04:00
The captain of the young “Wild Boars” football team that was rescued from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai in 2018 took his own life while at a school in England, a UK coroner’s inquest has concluded.
Duangphet “Dom” Phromthep, 17, was found unconscious at Brooke House College in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, on Feb 12. He died two days later at Kettering General Hospital.
Prof Catherine Mason, senior coroner for south Leicestershire, recorded a conclusion of suicide following an inquest on Oct 4, British media reported on Friday.
In a record of the inquest seen by the British news agency PA, Prof Mason said Duangphet “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,” she wrote of the death. “The police investigation has found no evidence of third-party involvement or suspicious circumstances.”
The sudden death of Duangphet came as a shock to his family and friends. At the time, the cause of death was not known.
His ashes were returned to his grieving family in Thailand on March 4 following his cremation in England.
Duangphet was the captain of the football team whose rescue from the flooded cave captured the attention of the world in 2018. Duangphet was the boy who first shouted out to the rescuers for help. He was then 13. He won a scholarship to study at the football academy in Leicestershire in August last year.