The ashes of young “Wild Boars” footballer Duangphet “Dom” Phromthep were returned to the embrace of his grieving family in Thailand on Saturday following his sudden death and cremation in England.
Zico Foundation chairman Kiatisuk “Zico” Senamuang, a former Thai national team star and manager, brought the ashes back on a Thai Airways flight that arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport around 6.30am.
Phra Sophon Varichaporn, assistant abbot of Wat Arun Ratchawararm, performed a religious ceremony in the arrivals hall before the ashes were delivered to Duangphet’s mother Thanaporn Phromthep and relatives who had travelled from their home in northern Chiang Rai province.
Duangphet, one of young footballers whose rescue from a cave in Chiang Rai captivated the world, was found unconscious in his dormitory room in England on Feb 12 and died in hospital two days later. No cause was given and the death was not treated as suspicious.
The 17-year-old footballer won a scholarship to Brooke House College Football Academy in Leicestershire in August last year. “Today, my dream has come true because I will become a football student in England,” he wrote on his Instagram account after learning the news.
It is not known how the teenager died, but his death was not being treated as suspicious.
Mr Kiatisuk said the Zico Foundation and the football academy had followed the will of Duangphet’s family to have the body cremated in England.
The Wild Boars — 12 local footballers aged between 11 and 16 and their 25-year-old coach — became trapped after they went to explore the Tham Luang cave complex on June 23, 2018 after football practice.
They were unable to leave when a sudden storm flooded the cave. They spent 17 days underground before being found by two British divers, part of what had become a huge international team assembled to recover the boys.
Duangphet, the young Wild Boars’ captain, was the boy who first shouted out to the rescuers for help. A complex and dangerous operation to save them followed. One Thai rescuer died in the operation.
The Zico Foundation chairman thanked the Thai embassy in England and the Leicester City Football Club for providing assistance for religious rites and cremation. The foundation hosted the funeral rites at Wat Mahathat in Burton-on-Trent from Feb 16-18 and held the cremation on Feb 28.
Mr Kiatisuk said Duangphet was polite and behaved well while staying in England. Teachers at the school and people attending his funeral rites and cremation were saddened by the death, said the foundation chairman.
Ms Thanaporn tearfully thanked the former national coach for helping bring back her son’s ashes. She and her family plan to hold Lanna-style religious rites at a local temple in Chiang Rai over the weekend. A ceremony will be held to float his ashes at the Golden Triangle in Chiang Saen district of Chiang Rai on Monday, she said.
Zico Foundation chairman Kiatisuk “Zico” Senamuang carries a box containing the ashes of Duangphet “Dom” Phromthep after arriving at Suvarnabhumi airport on a Thai Airways flight from England on Saturday. (Photo: Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)