Thai cave rescue: Elon Musk offers to fly in sub tested in LA pool

Elon Musk has shown the world images of a rigid cylindrical “mini-sub” he hoped could still be useful in the cave rescue.

Divers test the mini-sub in a pool in Los Angeles. Picture: Elon Musk

Billionaire Elon Musk yesterday showcased images of a rigid cylindrical “mini-sub” that he hoped could still be useful in the Tham Luang Cave rescue, as ­divers worked to free more of the trapped boys.

Mr Musk tweeted footage of the bullet-shaped cylinder with an aluminium shell being moved around by divers and snorkellers in a Los Angeles swimming pool, prompting questions about how divers in Thailand would be able to guide it through narrow winding dark chambers including a “choke point” U-turn only 38cm wide.

The tech entrepreneur said the diameter of the sub was 31cm.

“According to divers who have made the journey, this is capable of manoeuvring through all pas­sages,” he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Musk said he intended to put the mini-submarine on a plane to Chiang Rai yesterday.

“Mini-sub arriving in about 17 hours. Hopefully useful. If not, perhaps it will be in a future situation,” he said.

Yesterday veteran Queensland dive instructor Peter Low was among experienced cave divers who endorsed the rescue mission that was already under way.

Mr Low said he worried that a mini-sub might get stuck.

He said he understood one reason to propose a mini sub could be as a way to keep the boys calm; a panicked diver could rip off their face mask, meddle with gauges and die quickly.

But Mr Low said that provided the divers could continue to establish a trusting rapport with the boys, it made the most sense to him for the rescue mission to carry on guiding the children out of the cave.

“That is the best way — what they’re doing now is fantastic, they could not do better than this plan,” Mr Low said. “In my view it’s not the right time to try something completely new.”

Mr Low said sticking to what you knew on a cave dive was important, partly because of lack of visibility.

“I’ve actually shone a torch directly into my face and I couldn’t see the torch. That’s how muddy and dirty it can be sometimes,” he said.

The Cave Divers Association of Australia has described conditions that the cave divers and rescue teams are facing in Thailand as “almost impossibly extreme”, citing zero visibility, exceptionally strong flow, and a number of restrictions and sumps to negotiate.