Elon Musk launched an attack on a UK diver involved in the rescue of the Wild Boars, calling him a "pedo" on social media.
Musk wrote a series of tweets attacking British diver Vern Unsworth, with one saying the expat living in Thailand was "sus".
He then wrote: "Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it."
Mr Musk did not offer any evidence to back up the slur. He has since deleted the tweets.
The bizarre attack came after the rescue diver claimed that the mini-sub that Mr Musk built for the rescue and delivered to the site personally was just a PR stunt.
The chief executive of the tech giant Tesla built the submarine to assist in the rescue of the boys from the cave, but by the time he had developed and delivered the sub the rescue was well underway.
In an interview with CNN, Mr Unsworth said Mr Musk could "stick the submarine where it hurts".
"It just had absolutely no chance of working," he said.
"He (Mr Musk) had no conception of what the cave passage was like."
The 12 boys and their coach were rescued in a three-day dive operation.
