Elon Musk in Chiang Rai With His "Wild Boar" Mini Sub

By Mohd Haikal Isa BANGKOK, July 10 (Bernama) –  American space entrepreneur Elon Musk has arrived in Thailand with a mini submarine his company developed, named "Wild Boar" to help in the rescue operation of four boys and their coach still trapped inside the flooded Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand.  Monday night, Musk who is also Tesla chief executive officer, was taken inside the cave to take a closer look at the condition of the underground cavern. "Just returned from Cave 3. Mini-sub is ready if needed. It is made of rockets parts and named Wild Boar after the kids's soccer team. Leaving here in case it may be useful in future. Thailand is so beautiful," he said in his tweet Tuesday. Cave 3 is about two km from the mouth of the cave and served as a supply base for divers from the Royal Thai Navy's SEAL. The trapped boys and their coach are located several kilometres further inside the cave, in a ledge called "Nern Nom Sao”. Driven by fear of incoming monsoon rain which could further flood the cave, multinational teams have launched a risky rescue operations which managed to extricate eight boys in total for the past two days, leaving another five still inside the cave. The 12 boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach have been trapped inside the sprawling cave since June 23, in an incident which had attracted worldwide attention. Meanwhile Thailand's Interior Minister Gen Anupong Paojinda, when met after attending the weekly cabinet meeting in Bangkok's Government House Tuesday, confirmed Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha and Musk met in Chiang Rai Monday night. "The prime minister and Musk had a discussion last night," he said, adding that Prayut also asked the American entrepreneur to invest in Thailand. Musk according to him, explained to the prime minister about the mini-sub and how it could be used in the rescue operations. Anupong and Prayut flew to Chiang Rai Monday night where they stopped at Tham Luang cave to take a look at the rescue operations and visited the eight rescued boys at the province's Prachanukroh Hospital where they are under quarantine and undergoing medical treatment. -- BERNAMA