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People are wondering why Elon Musk hasn’t jumped in to ‘solve’ the Suez Canal block yet

<p>Could Elon Musk be the man to free the Ever Given?</p>

Could Elon Musk be the man to free the Ever Given?

Getty Images/Reuters

The internet is waiting with baited breath for Elon Musk to swoop in and offer to solve the Suez Canal block.

A giant container ship, the Ever Given, became wedged across the narrow waterway on Tuesday, cutting off one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

While efforts are underway to dig the vessel free, people are wondering when Musk will step in to save the day.

After all, this is what he attempted to do in 2018 when a junior football team and their coach became trapped in a Thai cave system.

The entrepreneur took it upon himself to build a “kid-size” submarine to help rescue the children, and delivered it to Thailand himself.

However, he was informed by the authorities that it was not needed, and it was tossed to one side while expert divers completed the treacherous mission themselves.

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Musk’s intervention swiftly spiralled into controversy when he hit out at one of the cavers who helped save the group.

In an interview with CNN,Vernon Unsworth called the billionnaire’s offer of help a “PR stunt” and said he could “stick his submarine where it hurts.”

The SpaceX founder, who now has more than 49 million Twitter followers, responded with a series of tweets about Unsworth, including one branding him a “pedo guy”. It goes with out saying that it was an unfounded accusation.

Now that there’s a new high profile crisis in town, users of the platform are expecting Musk to pull a similar stunt – although perhaps this time he’ll avoid a wars of words with the Ever Given team and their helpers.

The blockage caused by the Ever Given’s has already led to a backlog of around 248 ships, holding up the transportation of an estimated £7 billion worth of goods a day.

Workers have been deployed to dig the 400-metre vessel out of the mud and sand, with the operation expecting to take weeks.

And with photos and satellite images illustrating the scale of the task ahead who knows, maybe another helping hand wouldn’t go amiss...

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