Elon Musk Sends Top Engineers To Help Thai Football Team Trapped In Cave

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Elon Musk has provided assistance in the rescue of the group of Thai boys stuck in a cave by sending some of his top engineers to aid rescue teams. 

The man who sent his car in to space has sent the engineers to help out with the horrific situation in Thailand, where 12 young boys and their 25-year-old football coach are trapped in a cave by water.

The group ventured into the caves almost two weeks ago, and became stuck when heavy rain flooded the entrance.

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Rescue teams were sent in, with water being pumped from the cave. Brave divers entered the tunnels to try and locate the boys.

Thankfully, they were located earlier this week, but due to the high water levels and threat of more rain to come, rescue teams aren’t able to get them out.

None of the 12 boys can swim, and teaching them to dive in the caves is a perilous option.

Anmar Mirza, a cave expert, explained the dangers of cave diving to CNN, saying:

Cave diving is incredibly dangerous for people who are very experienced doing it.

And now you’re looking at taking people who have no experience or very little experience with diving, and putting them into a complete blackout situation, where they have to rely on a regulator and the tanks with them to breathe.

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A Twitter user took to social media to ask Elon Musk if he could help the boys.

They wrote:

Hi sir, if possible can you assist in anyway to get the 12 Thailand boys and their coach out of the cave.

Elon Musk responded to the tweet, saying he was happy to help if he could.

He went on to suggest some ideas for the way his company could provide assistance for the boys.

He wrote:

Boring Co has advanced ground penetrating radar & is pretty good at digging holes.

Don’t know if pump rate is limited by electric power or pumps are too smal. If so, could dropship fully charged Powerpacks and pumps. [sic]

Maybe worth trying: insert a 1m diameter nylon tube (or shorter set of tubes for most difficult sections) through cave network & inflate with air like a bouncy castle. Should create an air tunnel underwater against cave roof & auto-conform to odd shapes like the 70cm hole.

Musk then tweeted to say engineers from his companies, SpaceX and The Boring Company, would be heading out to Thailand tomorrow (July 7).

He said:

SpaceX & Boring Co engineers headed to Thailand tomorrow to see if we can be helpful to govt. There are probably many complexities that are hard to appreciate without being there in person.

The Boring Company spoke to the BBC about how they were planning to help the boys, with a spokesperson saying:

We are speaking with the Thai government to see how we can help, and we are sending SpaceX/Boring Company people from the US to Thailand today to offer support on the ground.

Once we confirm what exactly will be helpful to send or do, we will. We are getting feedback and guidance from the people on the ground in Chiang Rai to determine the best way for us to assist their efforts.

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Emily Brown

Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.