But on Aug. 28, Musk tweeted about Unsworth once again, writing: You dont think its strange he hasnt sued me? Although there are two victims here, and a sad accident has happened - when you go through this journey with them, I hope people understand why they do this.". He was the first foreign rescuer to arrive. However, the toughest hurdle is that if the person bringing the case is regarded as a public figure - and 'public figure' is given a pretty wide interpretation - it has to be proved that the defendant acted maliciously. Paakkarinen says that he sensed the Norwegian police were pleased that they had recovered the bodies, but "they let us know that we had broken some rules and they had to investigate that". Mr Unsworth told CNN that the submarine was "just a PR stunt [that] had absolutely no chance of working" and said Mr Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts". He had trained both the victims and counted them as good friends. Stewart Cook/Shutterstock Rick Stanton with 'Thirteen Lives' star Viggo Mortensen.. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? "He was pivotal to the entire operation," said British diver Rick Stanton. He says that while people who have never been cave diving might think it's so dangerous that a few people will inevitably die, with proper training and planning, accidents such as this should never happen to experienced divers. How would they react when they came to the site of the accident, and had to handle their corpses? The pair first clashed over Mr Musk's offer of a mini-submarine to help with the cave rescue. As someone who has dedicated a significant portion of his life to cave diving, Richard Rick Stanton continues to keep it up to the best of his abilities while spreading knowledge of the same. Its hence no surprise that he has since been awarded the Star of Courage, the Medal of the Order of Australia, the Order of the Direkgunabhorn, and the title of Australian of the Year (2019). "When you wake up and you see that there are 10 missed calls and 10 messages on the phone, you know immediately that something is wrong," he says. Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? World-renowned for his rescue and recovery work in caves, Stanton had a feeling he would be asked to travel to Plurdalen to retrieve the bodies - he had done a recovery there in 2006 - and had already started to find out what he could. He said "this was completely uncharted, unprecedented territory and nothing like this has been done." Would they become upset and breathe more quickly, or make a silly mistake that could lead to another tragedy? Stanton says that he and his fellow divers considered it, and decided it was too risky. Instead, the atmosphere is one of intense single-mindedness, as the team discuss how to manoeuvre the bodies through the water, and preserve them until the police, notified after the fact, could come and collect them. A new documentary, currently on release in Finland, depicts what happened. It proved a more difficult day than they anticipated. Two days after the Aug. 28 tweet, Musk emailed a BuzzFeed News reporter, suggesting that the reporter investigate Unsworth and stop defending child rapists, according to the lawsuit, which is 65 pages with exhibits. The following afternoon they went to the local police station. He went back and found his friend had become stuck in a narrow section of the cave, entangled in a cord connected to a piece of his equipment. Gronqvist is the first to surface, eventually, in Steinugleflaget, where Vesa Rantanen is waiting to greet him. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. The two divers were welcomed at Chiang Rai airport with a banner that read: The Worlds Best Cave Divers. For this reason, Paakkarinen says they tried to process "all the emotional stuff" in the month leading up to the rescue, so that when the time came they could focus on the task in hand, working almost like robots. A clip from Diving into the Unknown, directed by Juan Reina, used with permission of Monami Agency. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. The authorities said it was too dangerous to retrieve their bodies, but four friends of the men decided to take the risk - and seven weeks later they descended into the dark and glacial waters. 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Thanks to a combination of GoPro video, 87 hours of footage captured by a Thai admirals wife, and brilliant re-creations that were shot with the actual divers in a pitch-black England water tank during COVID and cut into the archival material with surgical precision, the two-week rescue effort seems as if it were staged and storyboarded with this eventual documentary in mind. Several divers told Buzzfeed that he had worked continuously on the rescue. Such as watching the Thai Navy Seal footage of the boys as John Volanthen draws on his skills as a father and scout leader to positively encourage the boys in "It's a code that no-one is left behind," he says. The first diver in the second team was Vesa Rantanen. To get in touch, please email And about 90m above the cave's vaulted ceiling lies your exit - a crack in the collapsed side of a hill. We hear the clanking of their gas cylinders and the intermittent whirring of underwater scooters. Dont miss out on opportunities to do something different, something outside the box, the veteran diver and motivational speaker said during his acceptance for the latter in 2019. Paakkarinen spoke to the three survivors on the phone from hospital, then spent the day walking around his hotel courtyard. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? "And I am not afraid of the cave. Diving hobbyists can climb out of the water here to admire the grotto, before returning to Plura. However, this incident is nothing but bittersweet for him because he learned his father passed away shortly after the mission came to a positive close on July 10, 2018. But if you want to know the Brits entire personal account of the rescue, you can read it in his nail-biting May 2021 book Thirteen Lessons that Saved Thirteen Lives: The Thai Cave.. "I decided to go forward, and that was a very good decision for me. In the cave-diving world, discovering how caves are linked together is a weighty achievement, one of the ultimate goals of the whole sport. You may want to read Twitters cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. British divers at heart of Thai cave rescue among best in world | Thailand | The Guardian. Read about our approach to external linking. The truth has now got its boots on and Elon Musk is being brought to account for repeatedly attacking and taunting the good name of an ordinary spelunker: Vernon Unsworth who answered the call and (with others) put his life on the line to help rescue the 13 trapped in the caves in Thailand, he said. In gripping footage, the divers' torches catch the jagged edges of the cave walls. Did you know that one of the experts that rescued the trapped Thai schoolboys was a hero firefighter and cave diver from Coventry? The Lufthansa electrician took up cave diving 20 years ago, and exploration became his passion after he moved to Ireland. Then they spent a day setting up equipment, leaving 50 cylinders of gas along the route and, on the Plura side, an underwater habitat. A plaintiff (the person bringing the case) has to prove the statement made about them is false and that it has caused them material harm. The divers head towards the site of the accident, Sami Paakkarinen calls the Norwegian authorities to inform them of the illegal rescue, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. John played a key role in the Tham Luang Thailand cave rescue. Harper, who had just returned from exploring Thai caves with Unsworth, brought two other divers, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, to help with the rescue. On the other hand, we have Adul Dul Samon, the only English speaker of the trapped 13 and hence the one to communicate with the initial rescue group, who has since made his way to the US. Jill Lawless contributed to this report from London. The filing also says Mr Unsworth is seeking "punitive damages" as well as the compensation, "to punish him for his wrongdoing and deter him from repeating such heinous conduct". He also knew that at some point the second group of divers would find Huotarinen's body blocking their way. Video, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, Listen to Vesa Rantanen and Sami Paakkarinen, Go to the Diving into the Unknown website, Trump mistrial request denied in NY rape lawsuit, US rock band Aerosmith announce farewell tour, MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo dies, Explosion derails train in Russian border region, DeSantis-backed board votes to countersue Disney, Father tells how gunman opened fire on Texas home, Street piano confiscated as public 'break rules', NFL player's daughter, aged two, drowns in pool, Russia launches missile attacks on Ukraine. The lawsuit explains Unsworths role in the rescue, saying that on June 23, when the soccer players became trapped, several Thai officials called and asked him to go to the cave as soon as possible. He was diving with his good friend Jari Huotarinen, who was attempting the traverse for the first time. But since leaving high school in the 1980s, hed quietly established himself as the pre But The Rescue ultimately isnt as fraught a story of people coming together to save 13 strangers from certain death as it is one about why people cant be moved to save 130 million strangers from a similar fate. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. And when he learned of the soccer team trapped in Tham Luang, he didnt hesitate to call them starting with record-holding cave-diver (and IT consultant) John Volanthen, who becomes his stalwart right-hand man. Mr. Unsworth is not a child rapist, the lawsuit stated, adding that Unsworth has never been married to a minor. Up until the summer of 2018, not many people had heard of Stanton. The documents said a separate lawsuit would be filed in England. Photographs courtesy of RICK STANTON Using his background in medical electronics, John has built and sold 2 Information technology businesses. (AFP) Mr Stanton's passion is more like an obsession, and he has dedicated his But Paakkarinen says that leaving bodies in the Norwegian cave would have been like leaving victims of a car crash by the side of the road. If the divers found Huotarinen's body impossible to shift, they would have to make the long trip back to Plura, and such a device might well be a life-saver. A British cave diver is suing tech billionaire Elon Musk for defamation after his repeated claims the diver is a child abuser. At the time of the accident he was teaching a diving course in Mexico. Cave divers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen inside cave (Credit: National Geographic) But what we get extra here are the nuggets the small, more intimate moments. Powered by WordPress.com VIP.