A former Thai Navy diver who had volunteered to help rescue 12 boys and their coach from a cave in northern Thailand has died, according to government officials.
Former Sgt. Saman Kunan, an ex-SEAL, died at 2:00 a.m. Friday local time (2 p.m. Thursday ET) due to a lack of air while attempting to return to a command center deep underground, Chiang Rai Deputy Governor Passakorn Boonyalak said.
The command center is located two kilometers (1.2 miles) inside the cave, where the young soccer team and their coach have been trapped for almost two weeks.
Kunan, who was in his mid-30s, was returning from delivering oxygen tanks to the cavern where the boys are when he ran out of air while underwater.
“Diving is always full of risks,” Navy SEAL chief, Rear Adm. Aphakorn Yookongkaew, said. “He may have passed out,” causing him to drown, “but we have to wait for the autopsy,” he added.
A military aircraft will carry Kunan’s body from Chiang Rai to Satthahip Navy Base Friday evening.
A funeral service will take place there, and then at his home town in the province of Roi Et, northern Thailand.
The members of the Wild Boar soccer team were reported missing on June 23 when they didn’t return from an outing after soccer practice. They entered the cave during fine weather but became trapped when a sudden downpour flooded the narrow tunnels.
The 12 boys and their coach were found deep inside the cave by two British cave divers on Monday, perched on a rock slab above flood waters, after nine days without food or fresh water.
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Since then, rescuers have been examining ways to bring the boys out, including fitting them with full-face oxygen masks and accompanying them on a long, dangerous swim through the tunnels.
However, the death of an experienced diver in the cave system underlines the inherent risks in attempting to move the boys, who are physically weak after days without food.
