Sorrowful day as friends and family remember Thai soccer boy rescued from cave

Family members cry during a funeral for Duangphet Phromthep, one of the 12 boys rescued from a flooded cave in 2018, at Wat Phra That Doi Wao temple in Chiang Rai province, Thailand, Sunday, March 5, 2023. The cremated ashes of Duangphet arrived in the far northern Thai province of Chiang Rai on Saturday where final Buddhist rites for his funeral will be held over the next few days following his death in the UK. - AP

CHIANG RAI, March 5 (AP): To the chant of Buddhist prayers, friends and family of one of the soccer boys rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand in 2018 bid farewell to their teammate who died in the U.K. last month, remembering him as a natural leader with a promising life.

The shrine for Duangphet "Dom” Phromthep was decorated with 17 soccer balls, each representing his age.