This week, @MabzMagz, a Twitter user with 572 followers who is identified as being from Swaziland, tweeted at Elon Musk, asking for help in rescuing the 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand.
The ongoing crisis has received international attention—more than 140 divers from around the world have been trying to get the team to safety before their oxygen runs out.
Musk responded by saying The Boring Company, his transportation infrastructure and tunnel-construction enterprise, is “pretty good at digging holes” and brainstormed solutions like setting up a network of tubes to the cave to “inflate with air like a bouncy castle.” Then early today (July 6), Musk pledged to send a team of engineers to help.
The Thai government confirmed on Facebook that Musk’s engineers are scheduled to arrive tomorrow.
On Twitter, Musk often employs a wry sense of humor, battles with rivals and critics and offers critiques of the media. Over the years, he has also used social media to respond to international disasters. And he has a history of following through.
In March 2017 Musk made a bet on Twitter that he could solve south Australia’s power woes by installing a giant Tesla battery system in 100 days. He made good on his promise.
In October 2017, the governor of Puerto Rico reached out to Musk to help rebuild its electrical grid in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Exactly one week later, a number of Tesla Powerwalls, the company’s home-battery systems, arrived on the island.
Between running three companies with huge ambitions: colonizing Mars (SpaceX), revolutionizing subterranean travel (Boring), and mass-producing electric cars (Tesla), Musk somehow finds time to tweet. And as of late, the tweets have been flowing freely.