A Thai navy SEAL diver who was part of the heroic crew who staged the cave rescue that drew praise from around the world has died of a blood infection.
Petty officer Beiret Bureerak contracted the infection after taking part in the brave rescue of 12 boys and their football coach from a flooded cave in northern Thailand last year.
The driver died from a blood infection he contracted during the June 2018 operation, the Royal Thai Navy confirmed on Friday local time.
The young man had been receiving treatment but tragically his condition worsened, the Navy said in a statement.
His crew's daring rescue drew the world's attention last year, as they risked their own lives to painstakingly shepherd the stranded boys to safety through a narrow cave system flooded by monsoon rains.
Another rescuer, former navy diver Sergeant Saman Kuman, died during the treacherous rescue operation.
Wild Boars Academy football coach Ekapol Chanthawong and 12 boys had gone to explore the Tham Luang caves in Chiang Rai province on June 23, 2018, when a rainy-season downpour flooded the cave system and trapped them underground.
They survived for nine days on water dripping from rocks before they were discovered.
International volunteers joined the rescue effort, which ended on July 10 when the boys and their
coach were all brought out safely, 18 days after their ordeal began.
It emerged following the rescue that the divers had used techniques including sedating the boys with tranquiliser ketamine as they swam them to safety, to protect the boys from panicking and hypothermia during the delicate operation.
Tesla founder Elon Musk recently successfully defended defamation allegations linked to comments he made during the high-profile cave rescue saga.
The billionaire called British cave diver Vernon Unsworth a "pedo guy" on Twitter after the diver branded Musk's act of sending a mini submarine to Thailand a PR stunt.
Mr Unsworth co-ordinated the complex rescue, helping save the 12 schoolboys and their coach.
The cave diver, whose efforts were rewarded with an MBE, launched legal action to sue the Tesla founder for defamation but the jury found in favour of Musk earlier this month.
