Elon Musk’s radical plan for trapped boys

BILLIONAIRE tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has come up with a radical plan to rescue the soccer team trapped in a cave in Thailand.

The Tesla CEO has designed an escape pod as he lends a hand to the complex rescue effort.

Musk tweeted that he was working with a team from his Space X rocket company to build a “tiny kid-size submarine” to transport the boys.

Musk said based on “feedback from Thailand,” the engineers built the metallic pod using a large silver tube meant to be affixed to a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The device is outfitted with oxygen ports and a nose cone to protect it from impact with rocks.

MORE: Four Thai boys go into isolation after being freed

Some good feedback from cave experts in Thailand. Iterating with them on an escape pod design that might be safe enough to try. Also building an inflatable tube with airlocks. Less likely to work, given tricky contours, but great if it does.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2018

Musk says the sub would be light enough to be carried by two divers and small enough to get through narrow cave gaps.

Hours after four boys were confirmed to have been rescued from the cave, Musk tweeted video of a small vessel being tested underwater.

The video shows people in scuba gear pushing and pulling the equipment across a pool in Los Angeles.

pic.twitter.com/D1umiFDr1t

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 8, 2018

In one of the videos of testing that Musk put on Twitter, a man can be seen emerging from the metallic cylinder.

“With some mods, this could also work as an escape pod in space,” Musk said.

Musk said on Twitter the aluminum sub would be tested until Sunday midafternoon California time before being placed on a 17-hour flight to Thailand.

Testing underwater in LA pool pic.twitter.com/CDO2mtjP2D

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 8, 2018

But Saturday night, he tweeted that the cave was now closed for the rescue by divers.

“Will continue testing in LA in case needed later or somewhere else in the future,” he wrote.

The California tunnel company run by Musk is continuing to maintain a presence at the Thai cave where several boys and their soccer coach are awaiting rescue.

A spokesman for Boring Co. said on Sunday that the company has four engineers who are “offering support in any way the government deems useful.”

His news of creating an escape pod came after US and Thai officials got four boys out of the flooded cave network after spending 15 days trapped along with their soccer coach. They were escorted out by a group of Thai and international divers.

Eight boys and the coach remain trapped, and experts are hoping to free the rest of the boys today.

Originally published as Elon Musk’s radical plan for trapped boys