Thai cave boy’s ashes arrive home from UK for final farewell

By KAWEEWIT KAEWJINDA
Associated Press

CHIANG RAI, Thailand (AP) — The cremated ashes of one of the 12 boys rescued from a flooded cave in 2018 have arrived in the far northern Thai province of Chiang Rai. Buddhist rites for his funeral will be held over the next few days following his death in the U.K. Seventeen-year-old Duangphet “Dom” Phromthep was found unconscious in his room on Feb. 12 at the Brooke House College Football Academy in Leicestershire and was taken to a hospital, where he died two days later. His ashes were handed over to his family in Chiang Rai, where his former coach held a large portrait of him at the airport. The 13 boys and the coach were trapped for more than two weeks in 2018 and were rescued by expert divers.