British caver may sue Elon Musk over 'pedo' tweet

World
Europe

A British caver who helped rescue 12 boys from a Thai cave said Monday he may take legal action against Elon Musk after the Tesla CEO called him a "pedo."

Musk launched the extraordinary tirade against Vernon Unsworth without providing any justification or explanation, after the cave expert slammed his offer of a miniature submarine to extract the school boys from the Tham Luang cave as a "PR stunt."

A device by Elon Musk's SpaceX and The Boring Company, designed to help rescue the remaining members of a soccer team trapped in a flooded cave in Chiang Rai, Thailand, is being tested in a swimming pool in Los Angeles, California, US. /VCG Photo

The "Wild Boar" team were rescued last week by an international team of divers through a narrow network of twisting, flooded tunnels.

Unsworth, who provided mapping knowledge of the cave to rescuers, said Musk's prototype would have had "absolutely no chance of working."

Musk responded Sunday in a bizarre series of tweets referring to Unsworth without using his name as "pedo guy."

"Pedo" is short for paedophile.

He then doubled down on the claim, tweeting from his official account to more than 22 million followers: "Bet ya a signed dollar it's true."

Musk later deleted the tweets and did not immediately respond to a request for comment through Tesla. Asked if he would take legal action against Musk over the allegation, Unsworth said: "If it's what I think it is yes."

The caver said he would make a decision when he flies back to the UK this week, but said the episode with Musk "ain't finished."

"He's just a PR stunt merchant – that's all he is," Unsworth added.

Shares of Tesla Inc fell 2.75 percent on Monday.

British caver Vernon Unsworth gets out of a pickup truck near the Tham Luang cave complex, where 12 boys and their soccer coach are trapped, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, July 5, 2018. /VCG Photo

Unsworth, who lives part of the year in Thailand, took part in the gargantuan 18-day effort to retrieve the 12 boys and their coach, a mission that ended on July 10 when the last five members were extracted.

The unprecedented operation involved sedating the boys and swimming and carrying them through tight, waterlogged passages.

The boys are all in good health and expected to be released from the hospital on Thursday.

Musk's tweets prompted condemnation from those who took part in the mission to save the boys.

Source(s): AFP