Elon Musk came under fire on Sunday after launching an extraordinary and baseless attack on a British diver who masterminded the successful rescue of 12 young Thai footballers, falsely calling him a “pedo” on social media.

Mr Musk’s shocking attack on expert cave explorer Vernon Unsworth included claims that he had never seen Mr Unsworth at the cave and - the false claim - that he was a paedophile.

The attack by Mr Musk, 47, came after the experienced cave diver rubbished the Telsa CEO’s plans to use a miniature submarine to save the boys.

Vernon Unsworth, who led the rescue operation, had earlier accused the tech entrepreneur of creating a "PR stunt", saying Mr Musk "can stick his submarine where it hurts".

"It just had absolutely no chance of working. He had no conception of what the cave passage was like," Mr Unsworth told CNN last week.

"The submarine, I believe, was about five-foot-six long, rigid, so it wouldn't have gone round corners or round any obstacles."