Rescuing a hiker with broken ankle on a popular tourist destination near by Budapest
On the afternoon of 28th of November 2021, in the rainy weather, a middle-aged lady suffered a fractured ankle during hiking on the area of „Hármashatár Hegy” on the side of „Újlaki Hegy”. Due to the difficult and exposed terrain, help was requested on the helpline of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service (BMSz), and also an alert was also issued on the rescue hot-line of the National Ambulance Service. By consulting a relative of the injured by phone, the location of the patient could be determined, and a little later accurate GPS coordinates could be obtained.
The relatives reported that the person had suffered a leg injury, but not injured anywhere else, was conscious, they can talk to her, and is not disturbed - but he certainly could not stand on her feet on her own. They were asked to cover the patient with all the available clothes and coats for protect against the cold. They were reassured, that help will be arriving soon.
The report revealed that the site is about 700 meters from the end of the paved road that can be reached by car or by ambulance. From there the scene of the accident can reached on a steep rocky road, by SUV for a shorter distance and then only on foot.
Rescue in the Börzsöny Mountains with the National Rescue Service
On Saturday, May 8, 2021, shortly before noon, the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service received a call for help about a hiker in Börzsöny, near Nagyirtáspuszta, suffered an ankle injury on só hegy (Salt hill), he is unable to stand on his feet, so he has no chance to get off the mountain without help. They also asked for help from the National Ambulance Service (OMSz), which sent the ambulance from the town Vámosmikola to the scene.
The caller also mentioned that we should prepare for a heavy lift since the gentleman weighs around a 100 kg so that it will not be easy to transport him on the difficult terrain.
We issued a state-wide alert to the rescue members and then negotiated with the OMSz dispatch so that our units could work efficiently together.
At 12:30 the first cave rescuers together with the OMSz ambulance arrived in the parking lot of the nearby Szent Orbán pension. We received the exact GPS coordinates of the accident from the caller, which allowed us to start our hike to the site, which was about 1.5 km away.
Volunteer Tree Rescue Force was organized
The Hungarian Cave Rescue Service (BMSZ) has a 24/7 hotline which can be called by anybody who needs either cave rescue, mountain style rescue or stuck paraglider rescues. In the last years there were an increasing number of calls by paragliders stuck on trees. Therefore a special Volunteer Tree Rescue Force was organized. People getting stuck on high trees either by sport accidents or by doing professional tree care work require special tools and trained rescuers to safely get out the situation. This newgroup has 76 active members from a variety of organisations, (Budapest Rescue Organisation, BMSZ etc) both volunteers and off duty professionals.
Hiker with broken ankle under the summit of 'Pilis-tető'
The last Sunday of January 2021 was an excellent time for hiking. Many people went to hiking in the mountains surrounding the capital. A few inch snow covered the landscape at the heights.
The Hungarian Cave Rescue Service (BMSz) emergency phone rung in the early afternoon: a 52 years old lady in Pilis-mountain suffered an ankle injury. She shared the exact GPS coordinates with us so the location could be accurately identified. The hikers protected her from the cold with coats, and some cavers who also hiked nearby covered her with a blanket. We know the area well, our members use to researched caves here.
Our rescuers were put on standby and a small group was launched by truck who were able to approach the venue by car 500 feets away.
After a quick first aid, we managed to get to the car very quickly, from where we could easily transport the injured lady to the nearby Pilisszentkereszt settlement.
In the center of the settlement, we handed over the injured to the Hungarian National Ambulance Service, who transported her to the National Accident Institute for further care.
Hope she will get well soon!
Rescuing a hiker with broken ankle on Ezüst-hill
On January 16, 2021, at 4:40 pm, we received a call out of an injured hiker from the Pilis Mountains. The 53-year-old lady was injured on a hiking trail (marked with red line) leading up to the Ezüst-hill in the foreground of Nagy-Kevély-hill, not far from the borders of Üröm – Pilisborosjenő cities, very close to the TTE hut commonly known as the "Rheumatism Hut". The darkness was fast approaching, she could not stand on her feet because of her injury, nor could leave the scene with the help of her companions due to the snowy, slippery conditions.
After the call out, one of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service members was the first to arrive at the scene, who was trail running nearby, so he hurried to the injured’s location quickly after receiving the call out alarm. Shortly afterwards, another of our cave rescuers, who was hiking in the nearby Kevély-hill, arrived to the scene. First aid was given to the injured lady, then they covered here with the clothes they had, protecting her from hypothermia, as the temperature was below freezing.
Visitor seriously injured in Ferenc-hegyi Cave
On 14 December 2019, a cave visitor in his middle thirties sustained severe injuries in Ferenc-hegyi Cave. Twenty-seven members of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service went out to the location and took part in the rescue operation.
After our medical team assessed and provided treatment for the patient on the spot, we managed to bring him into proper condition for transport. We placed him into a drag stretcher designed for special rescue purposes and carried him to the surface. This part of the rescue operation took five hours. Then we handed the injured person into the care of the Hungarian National Ambulance after midnight.
... We are shortly before Christmas, there are many caving tours (cave walks or adventure caving tours open for public) in the caves around Budapest. Our researchers and cavers also descend into caves like the Solymári Ördöglyuk (Devil's Hole at Solymár), the Mátyás-hegyi Cave, the Szemlő-hegyi Cave and the Ferenc-hegyi Cave.