Elon Musk joins effort to free Thai boys from cave

Authorities estimated they had at most four days until torrential rain flooded the cave complex again. Pic/AFP

SpaceX founder Elon Musk on Saturday said a team he had sent for the Thailand cave rescue operations is working closely with experts from the country on an escape capsule design to bring the 12 schoolchildren and their football coach trapped in a partially flooded cave to safety. "Some good feedback from cave experts in Thailand. Iterating with them on an escape pod design that might be safe enough to try," Musk tweeted on Saturday.

"Also building an inflatable tube with airlocks. Less likely to work, given tricky contours, but great if it does," he added. The schoolchildren and their 25-year-old coach have been trapped in the Tham Luang cavein Thailand for almost two weeks now. The boys went missing on June 23 after they had entered the cave in the Chiang Rai region during fine weather but became trapped when a sudden downpour flooded the narrow tunnels.