Technology 3 min read

Elon Musk Attacks British Thai Cave Rescuer in a Series of Tweets

Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

Yesterday, Elon Musk went on another Twitter rant. This time, the subject of his ire was the British Thai cave rescuer, Vern Unsworth.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, tech billionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk slammed the British Thai cave rescuer Vern Unsworth and called him a “pedo guy.” Unsworth was one of the volunteer divers that helped save the 12 members of the Thai boys’ soccer team and their coach who got trapped inside the flooded Tham Luang cave.

The Thai Navy successfully rescued the boys with the assistance of both local and foreign volunteer divers. Before that, Musk offered the Thailand government his help, providing a customized submarine to ferry the boys out of the cave. Musk personally delivered the sub to the Thai officials in charge of the rescue operation.

However, the head of the operation’s joint command center, Narongsak Osatanakorn, said that the mini-submarine was not appropriate for the cave rescue. Musk was not particularly happy with Osatanakorn’s statement, saying that the Thai official was “not the subject matter expert” and had been “inaccurately described as rescue chief.” Musk went on to say that Osatanakorn should be referred to as the “former Thai provincial governor.”

The tech mogul was apparently still in a sour mood after his offer of help turned into a publicity disaster. According to reports, Musk’s Twitter rant was triggered by Unsworth’s interview with CNN International last Friday. During said interview, Unsworth called the submarine a PR stunt by SpaceX engineers, telling Musk to just stick it “where it hurts.”

In his now-deleted tweets, Musk called Unsworth a “pedo guy” or pedophile. He then credited the pump and generator team for the success of the rescue mission after challenging Unsworth to show the final rescue video showing how low and still the water was inside the cave.

Below is a screenshot of Musk’s deleted tweets against Unsworth.

Musk’s tweets against British Thai cave rescuer Vern Unsworth | Photo courtesy of TechCrunch

Musk also told another Twitter user that he’d bet a dollar that his claim is “true.”

Musk tweets against British Thai cave rescuer Vern Unsworth_2
Musk tweets against British Thai cave rescuer Vern Unsworth | Photo courtesy of TechCrunch

According to reports, Unsworth is now considering filing legal actions against Musk for his baseless attacks. In an interview with The Guardian, the 63-year-old British diver who is currently living in Thailand said that he was “astonished and very angry” at the attack.

“I have a lot of support from people around the world astonished by his unfounded comments,” the British diver said.

Do you agree with the new trend of people making salacious claims on Twitter to gain publicity? Why or why not?

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Chelle Fuertes

Chelle is the Product Management Lead at INK. She's an experienced SEO professional as well as UX researcher and designer. She enjoys traveling and spending time anywhere near the sea with her family and friends.

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