Elon Musk is an enigmatic character whose net worth is in the billions because he has created companies like SpaceX and Tesla. He is a philanthropist when he’s off-duty. And once you see his over-the-top ideas about creating dragons and candy companies, you’ll probably think he’s Iron Man in real life. However, he took a little departure from his quirky behaviour to look into, what has become an international affair, the case of a Thai soccer team.
BBC reported that on June 23rd, a Thai soccer team had taken a hike into a cave. However, they got trapped and were unable to make it back to the surface.
A team of 12 boys (aged 11 to 16) and their coach made a plan to visit a nearby cave and etch their names in it as a part of their initiation ceremony. However, due to heavy rain, the water in the cave rose and they were trapped inside. When word of this hit the news after 10 days, a rescue operation was started.
It was a sort of international collaboration with help coming from the U.S., Australia, Japan, China, Myanmar and Laos. However, the first to reach the Thais were two civilian divers from England, who were a part of the British Cave Rescue Council. It took them hours but they managed to reach them.
You can watch the video of the team’s first contact with the rescuers here:
Hooyah…..ทีมหมูป่าพบเยาวชนทีมหมูป่าบริเวณหาดทรายห่างจาก Pattaya beach 200 เมตร โดยนักดำน้ำหน่วยซีลดำน้ำวางไลน์เชือกนำทาง ร่วมกับนักดำน้ำจากประเทศอังกฤษ ระยะทางจากห้องโถง 3 ยาว 1,900 เมตร เมื่อเวลา 21.38 น. คืนวันที่ 2 กรกฎาคม 2561#ThainavySEAL
Posted by Thai NavySEAL on Monday, July 2, 2018
However, despite the rescuers’ emphatic discovery, they haven’t been able to get the team out due to a plethora of problems.
Considering how the soccer team has been stuck in the cave without any food, they were weak and experts said they’d be unable swim out alive. That leaves the rescuers with a few options. They can pump out the water from the cave or wait out the flooding, thereby allowing them to walk out.
Another option involves drilling into the cave from above and pulling out the boys from the opening. That’d require new roads to make way from the drilling equipment and accurate maps to show where the team is exactly. And that’s where Elon Musk comes in.
A Twitter user named @MabzMagz reached out to Elon Musk, seeking for his help in this situation. And he responded immediately.
1. Why didn’t anyone else think of this idea?
Hi sir, if possible can you assist in anyway to get the 12 Thailand boys and their coach out of the cave. @elonmusk
— Mabz (@MabzMagz) July 3, 2018
2. Elon Musk, helpful as always.
I suspect that the Thai govt has this under control, but I’m happy to help if there is a way to do so
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 4, 2018
3. This Twitter user has done more than just praying.
Thank you @elonmusk. That is really all I ask. that you follow the updates on the situation and perhaps you may come up with something. Some of us can only pray, but you can do more. We know you are not Ironman (…right?). Cheers
— Mabz (@MabzMagz) July 4, 2018
4. Elon Musk is ready to use his resources.
Boring Co has advanced ground penetrating radar & is pretty good at digging holes. Don’t know if pump rate is limited by electric power or pumps are too smal. If so, could dropship fully charged Powerpacks and pumps.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2018
As soon as word of Elon Musk’s willingness to help got out, a Thailand-based entrepreneur contacted him on Twitter in order to collaborate and help the 13 Thais.
1. James informed Elon about what they’ll need.
SpaceX team reached out to us today to help connect to Thai govt. Our team connected and provided some prep feedback to your team. For pumps, cave has narrowest 70cm cross section and about 5km to 13 guys. For vertical drill, it’s about 1/2 mile down and tricky
— James Yenbamroong (@JamesWorldSpace) July 5, 2018
2. They exchanged details about the methods they can use to drill.
Maybe worth trying: insert a 1m diameter nylon tube (or shorter set of tubes for most difficult sections) through cave network & inflate with air like a bouncy castle. Should create an air tunnel underwater against cave roof & auto-conform to odd shapes like the 70cm hole.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018
3. James provided photographs of the cave to give a better idea.
Good idea. Looking into cross sections and lengths of each section. The critical 70cm cross section area has 15m in length. And we believe 2km away from entrance where pumps should be. pic.twitter.com/RxmrBfpFgG
— James Yenbamroong (@JamesWorldSpace) July 6, 2018
4. Elon and James discussed the option of pumping out the water as well.
Looks like 1st bit of water is close enough to entrance to be pumped out. 2nd & 3rd would need battery packs, air pumps & tubes. If depth of 2nd is accurate, would need ~0.5 bar tube pressure. Prob need to enter tube, zip up & then transit.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018
After a long and detailed conversation online, Elon Musk finally gave the confirmation that everyone was waiting to hear.
SpaceX & Boring Co engineers headed to Thailand tomorrow to see if we can be helpful to govt. There are probably many complexities that are hard to appreciate without being there in person.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018
“SpaceX & Boring CO engineers headed to thailand tomorrow to see if we can be helpful to Govt. there are probably many complexities that are hard to appreciate without being there in person.”
Due to the ever-changing weather in Thailand and the tricky construction of the cave, things are getting difficult for the 12 soccer players, their coach and even the rescuers. However, the resilience shown by the 13 trapped Thais have motivated everyone to keep their hopes up and utilise their resources to do the needful. As Elon Musk has joined this endeavour now, I hope this situation will have a happy conclusion.