Musk’s special pods to save Thai boys ready, but eight already rescued

Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk had volunteered to help with the rescue operations to save Thai boys and their football coach who were trapped in a cave in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. According to the latest update from the billionaire entrepreneur, a ‘kid-size’ submarine designed for the rescue mission is ready to go.

However, what remains to be seen is how much useful it would turn out to be. According to reports coming from Thailand, eight boys have already been rescued from the cave so far. Only five boys and the coach are remaining. If Musk’s timeline is to be followed, the equipment is on its way to Thailand, but if it arrives only after everyone is saved, the CEO’s superhero avatar would turn out to be a damp squib.

Musk had on Sunday shared videos of the pod on his Twitter account. The videos show the pods being tested in a pool in Los Angeles, with a man inside it. The pod is guided through some narrow passages by divers, before the man emerges out of the pod to loud applause.

Simulating maneuvering through a narrow passage pic.twitter.com/2z01Ut3vxJ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2018

“Got more great feedback from Thailand. The primary path is basically a tiny, kid-size submarine using the liquid oxygen transfer tube of Falcon rocket as hull. Light enough to be carried by 2 divers, small enough to get through narrow gaps. Extremely robust,” Musk tweeted.

Musk, who is also the CEO of space exploration company SpaceX, added that the equipment, with some tweaking, could be used as escape pods in space.

At the time of writing the story, four boys have been rescued today, besides four who were rescued on Sunday. The four rescued on Sunday are recuperating at a hospital.

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The 12-member team of teenagers and their 25-year-old coach went missing two weeks ago, but was found huddled in a deep cave a week later. The cave system flooded as they were exploring it, blocking their sole exit. A diver had died on Saturday while trying to rescue the boys out of the cave.