SAN, FRANCISCO/BANGKOK ¨C A Thai official said two members of the engineering team dispatched by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk are due to arrive late Saturday to help with efforts to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped in a flooded cave.
Another engineer was already in the country on holiday and six more are expected to land Sunday, Weerachon Sukhontapatipak, a spokesman for Thailand¡¯s military government, said in a Saturday briefing in Bangkok. They may provide help such as trying to drill a tunnel to save the group, he said.
The boys and their coach have been trapped in the cave system in the country¡¯s north for about two weeks, with heavy rainfall looming in the days ahead. Rescuers are scrambling to lower water levels with pumps and prepare the group for a perilous, hours-long extraction that will include diving through pitch-black water with scuba gear.
Musk, who studied physics, has floated ideas on Twitter such as using a double-layer Kevlar pressure pod or a long inflatable air sock to penetrate the narrow passageways and provide a rescue conduit. The tubes and pods are being built in the U.S., a spokesman said. Some equipment is traveling with the team and some will be express shipped.
¡°No need for SCUBA mouthpiece or regulator,¡± Musk wrote about his suggested pods. ¡°Training unnecessary & less susceptible to panic attack.¡± Musk said they were being tested Friday afternoon in a pool with a subject who had never been scuba diving.
Any air sock or tube would have to be tough enough to withstand high water pressure ¡ª potentially two tons of force at a depth of 15 feet ¡ª and sharp rocks, said Douglas Hart, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
A Thai Navy SEAL helping with the rescue operation died Friday, underlining the dangers of navigating the flooded cave system even for those with experience. Cave diving is widely regarded as treacherous and the stranded group is thought to have little swimming ability, let alone any diving know-how.
A spokesman for Musk has previously said that the billionaire¡¯s companies may assist by trying to pinpoint the boys¡¯ precise location using Space Exploration Technologies Corp. or Boring Co. technology, pumping water or providing heavy-duty battery packs known as Tesla Inc. Powerwalls.
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