Officials involved in the rescue of the soccer team from the Tham Luang cave complex have politely declined to deploy the submarine brought over by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to assist with the extraction of the kids.
According to the BBC, head of the rescue operation Narongsak Osotthanakorn said that they appreciated the help but the equipment he provided is “not practical with [their] mission“:
Even though their equipment is technologically sophisticated, it doesn’t fit with our mission to go in the cave.
One of the more difficult parts in getting out of the cave system is a bottleneck that is only 38cm by 72cm at its smallest – so narrow that divers have to remove their tanks to fit through the gap. Asked whether this would provide an obstacle for the submarine, Musk responded on Twitter that the submarine is only 31cm in diameter.
Throughout the process, Musk has entertained the possibility that the sub won’t be of any use, but has said that they will leave it with Thai authorities regardless in case it can be useful in a “future situation“.
Thanks, but we’ve not done anything useful yet. It is all other people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 8, 2018
So far, eight of the boys have been rescued from the cave by divers, with a third expedition today hoping to remove the remaining four boys, their 25-year-old coach, and a doctor and three divers that have been in the cave with them.
It is believed that today’s operation will take longer than the previous ones, but they are optimistic that they will be able to bring the five members of the team out.
The boys who have been rescued so far are in hospital and in generally good condition but with some signs of pneumonia and possible infection.
Former Thai navy diver Saman Gunan died last week while leaving the cave complex while returning delivering oxygen tanks.
