A British caver who helped rescue the trapped Thai football team from the Tham Luang cave is planning to sue billionaire Elon Musk after the entrepreneur falsely called him a “pedo” through his twitter. Vernon Unsworth told that he was astonished and very angry at the attack, for which Musk offered no evidence or basis. The billionaire initially doubled down on the comments made on social media but has since deleted them. Unsworth told journalists at the cave site, where a clean-up operation is underway, that the remarks about him were an attack on the entire rescue crew.

The team of 12 were rescued from flooded tunnels after being stranded for more than a fortnight. Rescuers have said that  Unsworth’s knowledge of the caves was crucial in freeing the boys. The Tesla chief executive Elon Musk had sent a child-sized submarine to the cave site. According to Unsworth, it had absolutely no chance of working. He felt that the billionaire had no conception of what the cave passage was like. The submarine was about 5ft 6inch long, and rigid, so it wouldn’t have gone around corners or obstacles. This reaction from the British cave diver provoked Musk and in response Musk called him a pedophile. He also described Musk’s offer as a PR stunt

In a series of tweets on Sunday, Musk said he would produce a video proving his submarine would have been able to reach the children. Both tweets have since been deleted. Unsworth,  who lives in Thailand, was among the first divers on the scene in Mae Sai after the boys from the Wild Boars football team and their coach became trapped inside. Rescuers have said he used his knowledge of the cave system and networks in the cave diving community to marshal a response that was crucial in locating the boys 10 days later and helping to free them last week.

Unsworth said he had saved copies of Musk’s tweets and believed that he had a lot of support from people around the world astonished by his unfounded comments. Musk had already attracted criticism for his approach to the Thai rescue.