US billionaire sends engineers to Thai cave as rescue diver dies
ELON MUSK, the billionaire entrepreneur, yesterday dispatched engineers from his companies, Spacex and The Boring Company, to Thailand to help with the rescue of 12 boys and their football coach who have been trapped for two weeks in the Tham Luang caves of northern Chiang Rai province.
Mr Musk initially responded to requests for help from Twitter users, but later outlined a more detailed strategy using his companies’ pumps, battery packs and tubes, to help the boys, aged 11-16, escape the horrific imprisonment they have now endured for two weeks.
The businessman suggested inserting a one-metre diameter nylon tube through the cave network and inflating it with air “like a bouncy castle” to create an air tunnel underwater against the cave roof, allowing the children to walk through it and duck through the narrow sections.
His idea comes amid increasingly desperate efforts to free the youth football team through the onerous method of draining water from a 2.5-mile-long twisting and submerged labyrinth of tunnels separating them from the exit.
Last night, Narongsak Osottanakorn, the Chiang Rai governor, said that the plan was to bring the trapped boys out if the rains worsen. “If we think the big rain is coming then we will have to get them out,” he said.
“We have plans and options but if the situation changes we have to adapt to it. This depends on the readiness of the kids to be able to dive.”
A successful operation would be a huge boost to rescuers who were mourning the death of one of the divers, Saman Kunan, 38, a volunteer and former Thai Navy Seal.
Mr Kunan died on his way out of the cave complex after delivering air tanks to different locations along the treacherous submerged route.
“His job was to deliver oxygen. He did not have enough on his way back,” confirmed Passakorn Boonyalak, Chiang Rai’s deputy governor.
The tragedy was a reminder of how dangerous it would be to get the boys to dive through winding, dark passages which take even fit, expert divers five hours, using four oxygen tanks, to battle through strong currents.
“Inside the cave is tough,” said Rear Admiral Arpakorn Yookongkaew, Thai Seal commander. But he added: “I can guarantee that we will not panic, we will not stop our mission, we will not let the sacrifice of our friend go to waste.”