Elon Musk May Get Sued For Calling Thai Cave Rescuer 'Pedophile'
The British cave diver, who was part of the rescue operation, called Musk's kid-sized submarine a 'PR Stunt'.
Washington, July 16: Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, may get sued by a British cave diver who played an instrumental role in rescuing the 'Wild Boars' soccer team stranded in Thuam Lang caves of Thailand's Chiang Rai last week. Musk was threatened with legal action after he accused the rescuer of being a 'pedophile'.
Vernon Unsworth, a senior member of the 18-member multinational team involved in the rescue operation, drew Musk's wrath after he criticised his plan to send a mini-submarine to free the kids stranded in the caves.
Unsworth had called it a "PR stunt", claiming that Musk was suggesting an erroneous solution only to make a name for himself. The diver claimed Musk had "no idea" about the interiors of the cave, and his specially designed submarine could not had travelled beyond 50 metres inside the sharply edged caves, stretching for nearly 12 kilometres.
Unsworth, whose views has been backed two more members of the rescue panel, said Musk was asked to leave when he arrived at Bangkok, as the Thai authorities considered his solution to be "dubious".
In his tirade of tweets, Musk denied the charge, claiming that he was welcomed in Thailand and assisted all the way to the caves in Chiang Rai where the kids were stranded.
Musk, instead, alleged he "never saw" Unsworth at the site of the caves.
“Never saw this British expat guy who lives in Thailand (sus) at any point when we were in the caves. Only people in sight were the Thai navy/army guys, who were great,” Musk wrote. “Thai navy seals escorted us in – total opposite of wanting us to leave," he added.
“You know what, don’t bother showing the (final rescue) video. We will make one of the mini-sub/pod going all the way to Cave 5 no problemo,” he further tweeted, adding, “Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.”
By "pedo", he referred to him as pedophile. The series of tweets were, however, deleted by Musk within hours of posting them.
Unsworth, on being asked by CNN whether he would press a defamation suit against the techie billionaire, he said the decision would be taken after he returns to the UK from Thailand.
In an earlier interview with the channel, Unsworth said the submarine of Musk was 5 feet, 6 inches tall and was in no way possible to be sent inside the caves.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 16, 2018 05:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).