Ashes of 17-Year-Old “Wild Boars” Footballer Return to Chiang Rai

The ashes of the 17-year-old “Wild Boars,” football player who died unexpectedly while studying in England have been returned to his grieving family that reside in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai. Their son Duangphet “Dom” Phromthep was one of 12 footballers rescued from the Tham Luang cave that garnered world attention in 2018.

Mr. Kiatisuk “Zico” Senamuang, the head of the Zico Foundation, transported Duangphet “Dom” Phromthep’s ashes on a Thai Airlines flight that landed at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok yesterday.

Before the ashes were given to Thanaporn Phromthep, Duangphet’s mother, and other family members who had travelled from their home in the northern Chiang Rai region, Phra Sophon Varichaporn, assistant abbot of Wat Arun Ratchawararm, conducted a religious ceremony in the arrivals hall.

Duangphet, a teenage football player whose escape from a cave in Chiang Rai captured the attention of the entire world, was discovered unresponsive in his dorm room in England on February 12 and passed away two days later in the hospital. No reason for the death was offered, and it wasn’t considered suspicious.

In August of last year, the 17-year-old football player was awarded a scholarship to the Leicestershire-based Brooke House College Football School. After hearing the news, he posted on Instagram, “Today, my goal has come true because I will become a football student in England.

The teenager’s cause of death remains unknown, however his passing was not thought to be suspicious.

The Zico Foundation and the football academy, according to Mr. Kiatisuk, carried out Duangphet’s family’s request to have the body cremated in England.

On June 23, 2018, following a football session, The Wild Boars—12 local football players between the ages of 11 and 16—and their 25-year-old coach—went to explore the Tham Luang cave complex. They soon found themselves stranded.

When a heavy downpour flooded the cave, they were unable to escape. Before being discovered by two British divers, who were a part of a sizable international team created to rescue the youngsters, they spent 17 days underground.

The young child who first called out to the rescuers for assistance was Duangphet, the captain of the Wild Boars. The rescue mission was intricate and risky. Throughout the rescue effort, one Thai rescuer perished.

The head of the Zico Foundation expressed gratitude to the Leicester City Football Club and the Thai embassy in England for helping with the cremation and religious rites. The cremation took place on February 28 after the foundation held the funeral procedures at Burton-on-Wat Trent’s Mahathat from February 16 to 18.

Young Duangphet, according to Mr. Kiatisuk, was courteous and well-behaved while visiting England. The school’s faculty members and those present at his funeral and cremation expressed their sorrow at his passing, according to the head of the foundation.

Ms. Thanaporn thanked the former national coach inconsolably for helping her bring her son’s ashes back. Over the weekend, she and her family intend to perform religious rites in the Lanna tradition at a nearby temple in Chiang Rai.

On Monday, she announced, a ceremony would be held to let his ashes float at the Golden Triangle in Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai.

Captain of Chiang Rai Wild Boars Football Team, Dies in UK

17 Year-old Captain of Chiang Rai Wild Boars Football Team, Dies in UK