The rescue of Thai football team from the Tham Luang Caves was followed up day and night throughout the entire rescue. Among the many developments of how the boys would be evacuated from the complex cave network, one such was Elon Musk devising a submarine to help the boys out. Musk even reached the spot with his mini-submarine to offer help but the divers and team of experts dismissed it as not practical for the rescue operation. The Tesla chief was actively following the mission and informed how he was trying to help. But recently an expert British diver named Vern Unsworth called it all a publicity stunt. Following which a war of words started on Twitter. Musk even called the diver a paedophile in the tweets. Unsworth is now planning to take a legal action.
Vern Unsworth was one of the vital members of the rescue team that was involved in getting all the 13 boys out. The diver spoke elaborately in an interview to the CNN and had called Musk's custom-made submarine a PR stunt. While talking about it he was quoted, "He can stick his submarine where it hurts," he said. "It just had absolutely no chance of working. He had no conception of what the cave passage was like. " He even went on to say that Musk was asked to leave quickly from the sight and there were already reports about his invention being 'unpractical.' Elon Musk and Malala Yousafzai's Hilarious Twitter Conversation Will Brighten up Your Day.
Musk had not reacted to these reports, but when Unsworth made such claims said that he had Thai Navy Seals escorting him into the caves. He even challenged Unsworth about the water levels inside the caves and asked to show the videos of rescue. Musk continued his rant and he called the diver a 'pedo guy.'
Take a look at the Twitter rant of Elon Musk against diver Vren Unsworth:
Here's the full meltdown where Elon Musk calls one of the rescue divers a pedophile and then doubles down because the diver didn't like his little submarine pic.twitter.com/CB4rW7TnhS
— PeterNorway (@classiclib3ral) July 15, 2018
Twitterati was not forgiving of Musk, who was clearly not wise with his words. Here's how some of them reacted:
Elon Musk yesterday: I'm not a right-winger!
Elon Musk today: [Baselessly accuses someone he doesn't like of being a pedophile]
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) July 15, 2018
Here, imagine being @elonmusk. You were building this reputation as a real life Tony Stark, a flawed but well meaning technology entrepreneur, somebody who would be mentioned in a future series of Star Trek.
Then you called a Thai cave rescue diver a paedophile.
— Limmy's Vines at the Fringe (@DaftLimmy) July 15, 2018
I love that Elon Musk called one of the cave rescuers a pedophile, while simultaneously arguing that the pods he invented to smuggle children work perfectly.
— Matt Fernandez (@FattMernandez) July 15, 2018
Although these tweets have now been deleted, they were already noted by everyone. Unsworth had not personally seen the tweets but he sure heard about them and is now considering a lawsuit. When he was asked by a news agency if he plans to sue Musk for his statements, Unsworth replied, "If it’s what I think it is yes." The entire episode of heroic rescue from the caves successfully has now turned into a controversy due to the choice of words and it gets ugly.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 16, 2018 08:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).