Tesla founder Elon Musk has shared video footage of a prototype submarine pod intended for use in the attempted rescue of twelve 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand.
Musk, who previously volunteered drilling technology to assist in the operation, said the “kid-size” rescue pod is “small enough to get through narrow gaps” in the Tham Luang cave.
Video shot at a Los Angeles pool shows the pod in action.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1016029967270928384
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1016060413476143104
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 8, 2018
In a follow-up tweet, Musk said the rescue pod will arrive in Thailand this evening. Whether or not it will be useful to the ongoing operation is yet to be determined.
“If not, perhaps it will be in a future situation,” Musk tweeted.
The Wild Boars soccer team and their coach were trapped in the Tham Luang cave two weeks ago, when rising waters cut off the group from the cave entrance some 4 kilometres away.
Heavy rains in the Chiang Rai region forced rescue divers to begin their operation yesterday. Earlier, diver Saman Kunan died while securing oxygen supplies along the planned rescue route.
At time of writing, four of the boys have been rescued by the divers. The operation is expected to resume at about 10:00am AEST, when divers will again make the five-hour journey to the trapped team.
