The attempted rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a Thai cave has captivated the world. So when billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk announced that he was going to help, some in the tech community beamed with pride. But Musk’s Thai adventure is looking more and more silly with each passing day.
Rescue chief Narongsak Osatanakorn told the BBC that “the equipment they brought to help us is not practical with our mission.” Musk’s idea for a “kid-sized” submarine had drawn ridicule from some quarters for its inability to navigate the tight spaces that the rescuers are encountering.
“Even though their equipment is technologically sophisticated, it doesn’t fit with our mission to go in the cave,” Osatanakorn said about Musk’s engineering team.
The boys, aged 11-16, are all members of the Wild Boars soccer team and had been trapped in the cave since June 23rd. The flooded 2.5-mile passage curves and becomes so tight in some areas that divers are forced to carry their oxygen tanks in front of them. Given those constraints, a large tube like Musk’s seems very impractical.
Eleven boys have been rescued from the cave as of 6:20am ET this morning, which means that there’s just one more boy and the 25-year-old coach that still need to be extracted. A former Thai Navy SEAL diver, 38-year-old Saman Gunan died on July 6th while trying to save the team.
Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, traveled to Thailand yesterday, tweeting that he was standing by in case the Thai rescuers need him. But the rescue team has more or less said “thanks, but no thanks.”
“Just returned from Cave 3,” Musk tweeted yesterday. “Mini-sub is ready if needed. It is made of rocket parts & named Wild Boar after kids’ soccer team. Leaving here in case it may be useful in the future.”
Musk’s efforts, while perhaps well-intentioned, have been met with extreme skepticism every step of the way. His attempts to brainstorm ideas on Twitter were particularly strange to some observers.
“With all due respect to Mr. Musk, I am not sure that he or his engineers have a real good handle on exactly what they’re dealing with in this particular situation,” Anmar Mirza from the National Speleological Society’s National Cave Rescue Commission recently told Slate.
As if it wasn’t a circus already, Hollywood producers are reportedly in Thailand hoping to secure rights for the story. According to the BBC, a US company called Pure Flix has sent producers Michael Scott and Adam Smith to the area.
“There’s going to be other production companies coming in so we have to act pretty quickly,” Smith reportedly said.
It seems like nobody is willing to let a good disaster go to waste.
[BBC]
Update, 7:38am: Multiple news outlets are reporting that the last boy has been saved from the cave, and the only person who still needs to be pulled out is their coach.
Update, 7:55am: The Associated Press is reporting that the coach is now out as well. What a relief.