Thai cave rescue: Elon Musk says he has cave rescue fix

Elon Musk has released footage of tests in a swimming pool for a small submarine he says could save the boys trapped in a cave.

Musk posted footage of the submarine-like cylinder being pulled by hand by divers.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk began releasing footage of tests underway in a Los Angeles swimming pool for a small submarine that he had said could save the boys trapped in a cave in Thailand, after officials there announced the rescue mission had begun.

Mr Musk tweeted the footage of his trials after Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osoththanakorn told reporters in Thailand late yesterday: “If we don’t start now we might lose the chance”.

Testing underwater in LA pool pic.twitter.com/CDO2mtjP2D

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 8, 2018

There were serious fears that heavy rain in coming days could derail the mission.

The terrifying rescue operation to free the 12 Thai boys and their coach from deep inside a flooded cave begun with 13 international divers and five Thai navy seals yesterday. They had been trapped for 15 days underground when the divers guided four of the boys to safety through narrow, winding underwater tunnels that are in complete darkness. The most hazardous obstacle is a submerged choke point that is just 38cm wide, shaped like the U-bend in a toilet.

As the rescuers were today preparing to extract more boys from the spot where they are trapped 3.2km inside the cave entrance, Mr Musk used his Twitter account to thank Palisades Charter High School for allowing the trials to be carried out in the school swimming pool, and posted footage of what appears to be a rigid, cylindrical submarine being guided by divers parallel to the floor of the pool.

One piece of footage shows a man emerging from the submarine-like device after it is pulled from the pool.

Today Mr Musk posted footage of the submarine-like cylinder being pulled by hand by divers inside the pool and wrote: “Simulating manoeuvring through a narrow passage”.

Simulating maneuvering through a narrow passage pic.twitter.com/2z01Ut3vxJ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2018

He also posted: “With some mods, this could also work as an escape pod in space”.

With some mods, this could also work as an escape pod in space

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 8, 2018

Yesterday Mr Musk responded on Twitter to news the rescue mission in Thailand had already started.

“Extremely talented dive team. Makes sense given monsoon. Godspeed,” he tweeted.

Earlier Mr Musk had tweeted that he was in contact with cave experts in Thailand about his escape pod idea, and wrote: “Some good feedback from cave experts in Thailand. Iterating with them on an escape pod design that might be safe enough to try. Also building an inflatable tube with airlocks. Less likely to work, given tricky contours, but great if it does.”

Some good feedback from cave experts in Thailand. Iterating with them on an escape pod design that might be safe enough to try. Also building an inflatable tube with airlocks. Less likely to work, given tricky contours, but great if it does.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2018