Elon Musk goes on Twitter rant after reports that his mini submarine was 'not practical’
Elon Musk is not here for the kid-size submarine haters.
On Tuesday, the Thai government successfully completed the rescue of all 12 young soccer players and their coach from the narrow, treacherous cave system they had been trapped in since June 23. They did so without the use of the mini submarine that Elon Musk's team developed for the mission, and that the billionaire helped drop off on Monday in case it was needed as a backup.
The submarine arrived late on the second to last day of the mission. The person whom the BBC described as Thai NavySEAL's head of the rescue mission, Narongsak Osotthanakorn, told the BBC that "the equipment they brought to help us is not practical with our mission."
However, Musk was having none of that.
He took to Twitter Tuesday morning to defend his fun-size rescue invention. Musk claimed that Osotthanakorn was not the head of the rescue effort — that he was instead the former provincial governor. And that, instead, the REAL head of the rescue effort, Dick Stanton, was very into the kid-size submarine.
He even provided email proof.
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"Please keep working on the capsule details," Musk posted to his 22.3 million followers.
The BBC has not issued a correction of their characterization of Osotthanakorn. Previous reports confirm that he is the former provincial governor, as well as the leader of the rescue mission. The Guardian described him as "the head of the joint command centre coordinating the operation."
Just for good measure, Musk went on to tweet how the kid-size sub would definitely, for sure be useful in the future.
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He also took exception to dismissals of his work, just because he's a "billionaire." Man, billionaires, so misunderstood!!!
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Earlier, Musk tweeted about his visit, saying that he would leave the mini-sub — which he named the Wild Boar, after the soccer team — in Thailand, in case it would be of further use. He also, um, shared how beautiful he found Thailand to be.
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According to CNBC's transcript of a press briefing, the Thai Prime Minister echoed Musk's sentiments about the Wild Boar potentially coming in handy in the future. He said that the tools Musk's team brought to Thailand were "useful" and could possibly be "modified and adjusted for future use."
Osotthanakorn response was more of a straightforward thanks-but-no-thanks.
"Even though their equipment is technologically sophisticated, it doesn’t fit with our mission to go in the cave,"Osotthanakorn said.
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For his part — BEFORE he went on a tweet storm to prove his own usefulness — Musk gave all the due props to the rescuers, too. And has all along been deferring to the government's efforts.
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Good effort, team. You too, Elon.
