Rescuers at Thailand cave used MSA equipment
CRANBERRY TWP — Many people who live and work in Butler County were captivated by the news of a Thai soccer team that was trapped in a cave, but not many were as personally invested as the employees at the Cranberry-based safety tech company Mine Safety Appliances.
MSA creates equipment that can improve safety in dangerous fields, such as mining and military operations. The company's most recent achievement came in the form of an early July rescue mission.
After 12 boys and their coach were trapped in the Tham Luang caves in northern Thailand on June 23, it took 18 days for the entire group to be extricated due to flooding in the caves. A team of Thai and international divers worked from July 8 to 10 to complete the rescue mission, and the entire soccer team was safely rescued.
During this time, rescue personnel used a few of the products from MSA to complete the job, including self-contained breathing units and European-style firefighter helmets.
Mark Deasy, MSA's director of public relations and strategic communications, said the equipment in use was provided to the Royal Thai Navy.
“It was the Thai Navy SEAL team that was one of the groups leading the effort, and we sell equipment to them,” he said.
MSA has several different core product areas, including respiratory protection.
“There was a great sense of pride in knowing (our) equipment was involved in the rescue,” Deasy said.
He said this rescue wasn't the first time MSA equipment was used in a high-profile case. After the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, MSA shipped equipment from Murrysville and Cranberry to Manhattan within 24 hours.
“We have a saying here,” Deasy said. “The products we make have to work when a life is on the line. We are a manufacturer of safety equipment. We don't make clothing; we make equipment that has to work when life is on the line.”
When the rescue's success was announced, Deasy said he felt relieved and happy.
“Being a parent, you empathize with those parents of those trapped children,” Deasy said. “For those parents, this did have a happy ending. (I was) very happy that things worked out for those families, and secondly, proud to be part of a company that helped those rescuers going into a potentially treacherous situation.”
Deasy said the business director responsible for MSA's region of Thailand is working with officials to develop plans for a museum devoted to the rescue effort but that it most likely won't happen until 2019. Two of the hard hats used in a 2010 rescue of 33 trapped Chilean miners have already been placed in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.
