A British cave diver who helped rescue 12 boys and their coach in northern Thailand says he鈥檚 considering legal action against billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk who called him a pedophile online.
Vern Unsworth, a British cave explorer based in Thailand, helped rescuers navigate the complex Tham Luang cave system where the boys and their coach were trapped for more than two weeks beginning in June.
On Sunday, Musk unleashed on Unsworth, writing on Twitter that he intended to build the child-size submarine he offered to rescuers for the Thailand mission that they rejected.
鈥淲e will make one of the mini-sub/pod going all the way to Cave 5 no problemo [sic],鈥� he wrote in a tweet that has since been deleted. 鈥淪orry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.鈥�
The founder and CEO of tech giants Tesla and SpaceX didn鈥檛 provide any further explanation or context for the accusation. It鈥檚 unclear what provoked the outburst, but earlier this month Unsworth spoke critically of Musk鈥檚 miniature submarine design in an interview with CNN.
鈥淚t just had absolutely no chance of working. He had no conception of what the cave passage was like,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he submarine, I believe, was about five-foot-six long, rigid, so it wouldn't have gone round corners or round any obstacles.鈥�
Unsworth went on to say that Musk鈥檚 offer to help the mission was simply a 鈥淧R stunt鈥� and that he could 鈥渟tick his submarine where it hurts.鈥�
Musk鈥檚 鈥減edo鈥� tweet attracted immediate backlash with many users calling him out for hurling serious and unfounded accusations for all of his 22 million followers to see.
In response to one tweet, the American businessman wrote: 鈥淏et ya a signed dollar it鈥檚 true.鈥�
No evidence has come to light to substantiate Musk鈥檚 pedophilia accusation.
In an interview with Australian broadcaster Nine Network, Unsworth said he was considering legal action against Musk for the comment.
