Musk in hot water over hero ‘pedo’ slur
Hundreds attend ahead of cave repairs
A British caver who helped rescue 12 boys from a Thai cave said yesterday he may take legal action against Elon Musk after the entrepreneur called him a “pedo”.
Tesla CEO Musk l aunched the extraordinary tirade against Vernon Unsworth without providing any justification or explanation after the cave expert slammed his offer of a miniature submarine to extract the footballers from the Tham Luang cave as a “PR stunt”.
The Wild Boars were rescued last week by an international team of divers through a narrow network of twisting, flooded tunnels.
Mr Unsworth, who provided mapping knowledge of the cave to rescuers, said Mr Musk’s prototype would have had “absolutely no chance of working”.
Mr Musk responded on Sunday in a bizarre series of tweets referring to Mr Unsworth, without using his name, as “pedo guy”. “Pedo” is short for paedophile.
The entrepreneur doubled down on his claim, tweeting from his official account to more than 22 million followers: “Bet ya a signed dollar it’s true”.
Mr Musk later deleted the tweets and declined to comment.
Mr Unsworth said yesterday he had not reviewed the tweets in full and had only heard about them.
But asked if he would take legal action against Mr Musk over the allegation, Mr Unsworth said: “If it’s what I think it is, yes.”
The caver said he would make a decision when he flies back to the UK this week, but added that the episode with Mr Musk “ain’t finished”.
Mr Unsworth, who lives part of the year in Thailand, took part in the gargantuan 18-day effort to retrieve the 12 boys and their coach, a mission that ended on July 10 when the last five members were extracted.
The boys are all in good health and expected to be released from the hospital on Thursday.
Mr Musk’s tweets attacking Mr Unsworth prompted condemnation from those who took part in the mission to save the boys.
Claus Rasmussen, a Danish national and instructor at Blue Label diving in Phuket, called the allegations “inappropriate” and praised Mr Unsworth’s role in the rescue.
“He was one of the driving forces in getting everything done and clarifying for us divers what was going on,” he said.
CHIANG RAI: Hundreds of people joined in a major merit-making ceremony held in front of Tham Luang cave in Mae Sai district yesterday after 12 young footballers and their coach were safely rescued from it a week ago, before the cave is officially closed for restoration from today.
Among 28 senior monks taking part in the ceremony were Kru Ba Sang La, abbot of Wat Sai Muang in Myanmar’s border town of Tachilek, and Phra Ratanamunee, deputy ecclesiastical Chiang Rai provincial governor.
Other participants included rescue operation head, Narongsak Osotthanakorn, who is currently the governor of Phayao province and former Chiang Rai governor, incumbent Chiang Rai governor Prajon Pratsakul as well as Thai and Myanmar residents.
The boys were successfully extracted from July 8-10. They entered the cave on June 23, when they were trapped following floods inside the system.
A ceremony was also conducted to offer robes to a monk to make merit for lieutenant commander Saman Gunan, the former Navy Seal diver who died on July 6 during the operation.
Many Thai and Myanmar people came to place flowers, fruits and sweets in front of the cave to pay the homage to sacred spirits.
Jay Hom led a group of 30 people from Tachileik and said she had earlier prayed in front of the cave, asking for the trapped boys to be found. She returned to the site to deliver snacks and fruit to fulfil her vow.
After being discovered four kilometres inside the cave, the 13 were taken care of by army doctor Col Pak Loharachun and three other Navy Seals, who stayed with the group. Col Pak yesterday shared photos on his Facebook of him hugging each boy at the hospital, where they are being treated.
“Everyday, the boys tried to dig a hole by using stone pieces to find an exit despite having no food to eat,” Col Pak commented.
The doctor said he noticed that the boys’ coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, always shared his meals with the boys first.
“I am confident that the boys had been well taken care of [by the coach] before they were found. This is because the physical and mental health of all the boys were far better than I had expected,” Col Pak said.
The boys belong to a local youth football team, called “Moo Paa Academy”, or Wild Boars.
The founder of the team, Nopparat Kantawong, said the team has become popular following the incident and some people have offered funds for the team.
However, he insisted the team will decline any offers of funding.
Meanwhile, Culture Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat said he has instructed the Fine Arts Department’s National Archives of Thailand to document the whole rescue incident.
Any people or media outlets who recorded the events have been asked to share their pictures, documents or video clips with the archive.
Authorities also plan to hold exhibitions about the rescue in Bangkok and other provinces across the country, according to the minister.
Chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thanya Nethithammakul, yesterday said a public hearing will debate the possibility of upgrading Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non forest park to official national park status.
“We will close the cave with no time frame [in mind]. We will open it as soon as all things are ready, but we don’t know when,” he said.