Coach and three footballers are stateless

BANGKOK: Schooled as a monk and now hailed a hero, football coach Ekkapol Chantawong is one of several stateless members of the “Wild Boars”, a team whose survival after days trapped in a flooded Thai cave fixated a country that does not recognise them as citizens.

Coach Ek, the 25-year-old who was among the last to emerge from the cave on Tuesday, has been lauded for keeping the young footballers – aged 11 to 16 – calm as starvation loomed in the dark.

The UN Refugee Agency says Thailand is home to around 480,000 stateless people.

Many are from nomadic hill tribes and other ethnic groups who have for centuries lived around Mae Sai, the heart of “Golden Triangle” – a lawless wedge of land bisecting Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and China.

Among the stateless are Ek and three of the boys who were trapped in the cave alongside him – Dul, Mark and Tee – the founder of the Wild Boars club Nopparat Khanthavong said.

“To get nationality is the biggest hope for the boys ... in the past, these boys have problems travelling to play matches outside of Chiang Rai,” he said, because of travel restrictions that accompany their lack of status.

Without passports, they are unlikely to be able to take up the invite from Manchester United FC to visit next season.

“They also can’t become professional football players because they don’t have the (correct) status,” Nopparat said, adding the process has begun to try to get them nationality. – AFP