Hero cave expert may sue Musk over ‘pedo’ attack
BANGKOK: A British cave expert who helped rescue 12 boys from a Thai cave said yesterday he may take legal action against Elon Musk after the entrepreneur called him a "pedo".
The Tesla chief launched a tirade against Mr Vernon Unsworth after he slammed the businessman's offer of a miniature submarine to extract the footballers as a "PR (public relations) stunt".
The Wild Boar team were rescued last week by an international team of divers through a complex network of flooded tunnels in the Tham Luang cave.
Mr Unsworth, who provided mapping knowledge to rescuers, said Mr Musk's prototype would have had "absolutely no chance of working".
Mr Musk responded on Sunday in a series of tweets referring to Mr Unsworth as "pedo guy". "Pedo" is short for paedophile.
He doubled down on the claim, tweeting to more than 22 million followers: "Bet ya a signed dollar it's true."
He later deleted the tweets.
Mr Unsworth yesterday said he had only heard about the tweets. Asked if he would take legal action over the allegation, Mr Unsworth said: "If it is what I think it is, yes."
The episode "ain't finished".
"He is just a PR stunt merchant - that is all he is," Mr Unsworth added.
Mr Musk's tweets prompted condemnation from those who took part in the mission.
Mr Claus Rasmussen, a Danish diver, called the allegations "inappropriate" and praised Mr Unsworth's role in the rescue.
"He was the guy who mapped most of that cave," he said. "He was one of the driving forces in getting everything done and clarifying for us divers what was going on." - AFP
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