Prayers as family bids final goodbye to young ‘Wild Boar’ Duangpetch
A prayer ceremony is being held at Chiang Rai’s Phra That Doi Wao Temple to bid a final farewell to young “Wild Boars” footballer Duangpetch “Dom” Promthep.
The 18-year-old’s ashes were handed over to his grieving family on Saturday morning at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.
Duangpetch, a member of the Wild Boars football team rescued from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai in 2018, won a scholarship at Brooke House College Football Academy in Leicestershire in August last year.
On February 12, he was found unconscious in his dorm room by a teacher and taken to the hospital. Two days later, it was reported that his breathing had weakened and he was unresponsive.
Though the cause of the teenager’s death has not been disclosed, it is not being treated as suspicious.
Some 100 people attended the prayer ceremony, including Duangpetch’s parents and relatives, members of the Wild Boars team and others who were involved in the Tham Luang cave rescue. The prayers were led by the temple’s abbot Phra Kru Prayut Chetiyanukarn.
The teenager’s ashes will be released into water in Chiang Rai’s Chiang Saen district on Monday, the family said.
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The Wild Boars –12 footballers aged between 11 and 16 – along with their coach found themselves trapped in the Tham Luang cave complex on June 23, 2018. They had gone to explore the area after football practice and were unable to leave after a sudden rainstorm flooded the caves.
They spent 17 days stranded in the caves before being found by two British divers as part of a huge international rescue mission. One Thai rescuer died in the operation.
Duangpetch was the first to shout out to the divers when they finally managed to get close to them.
The Zico Foundation, which brought the young footballer’s ashes home, thanked the Thai embassy and Leicester City Football Club for helping with the religious rights and cremation. The funeral rites were held at Wat Mahathat in Burton-on-Trent from February 16 to 18 and the cremation on February 28.
