Thai cave rescue in the point of view of a new book

1/16/2019 - The story of the summer Thai rescue has been picked up again by the world press these days, due to a recently published book recorded by on-site reporter Liam Cochrane entitled The cave - The inside story of the daring Thai cave rescue. The same writer published a three-part series on internet containing press-excerpts from the book.

According to the editors of the newspapers presenting the book, the main strength of the book is that it writes a lot about the circumstances of the rescue, which allegedly do not reflect the conditions communicated to parents and news-hungry media of the world may have known before. News released in the summer also mentioned about some sedation during the rescue, but suggested that even in this condition, the rescued children remained somewhat vigilant, actively swimming, following the driver's guideline, participating in their own rescue. To be able for this, they learned to swim inside, in the cave, and learned how to use a respirator and a full face mask. According to the news available then, the diver was at the front with a bottle of breathing gas attached to the face mask, followed by the swimming child, and at the back another lifeguard was helping the child if they got in trouble. According to the Liam Cochrane-s book the children came to the surface as a “package” with fixed arms to keep them physically intact, to avoid jams, being moved by straps on their backs, managed by rescue divers in the water.

Blood donation again

On November 30, 2018, we organized the second blood donation event. Here are the brief results:

34 main blood donors X 4.5 dl of blood taken = 15.3 liters of blood (3 people).

This is how we were able to WORK TOGETHER to help those who were in a difficult situation! Thank you for every participant, we hope to see you all next year! For those who like more detail: This year, 34 of the 36 registered participants were able to donate blood. 5 of them were new blood donors, they are registered separately because they consider it important that those who do not yet have experience in this field have come and will probably return if everything goes well, ie they get into the system.

Common cave rescue training in the Devil’s Hole Cave

The usual great cave rescue training during fall was held in the Devil’s Hole Cave in Solymár this year. Also we excersized near the entrance on the surface. We practiced the handling and transport of the stretcher in several groups. In addition to the members of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service, the members of the Bakony Cave Rescue Service, the Northern Hungarian Association of Cave Rescuers, the firefighters of the 1st District of Disaster Management also joined and practiced together.

We also gained a wealth of useful experience in performing tasks that seemed simple at first glance.

More pictures CLICK HERE can be found on our facebook page.

New record!

This year, more and more people have been offered a percentage of personal income tax than ever before! According to the information of NAV, an offer of HUF 1,755,423 was received. As in the practice of previous years, we try to use it into useful and necessary tools and purposes, and we will inform you about it. 

The 1% TAX offered covers the costs of rescues in a sharp situation, and in "peacetime" we can spend the proceeds on rope technology, medical and other rescue equipment.

We also cover part of the cost of mid-year internships from the 1% offerings.

Did you know that in many cases our members add not just voluntary work, but also their own financial resources to the operation of BMSz?

Thank you very much.

Injured hiker rescued from the top of valley "Lukács-Árok"

An alarm arrived a few minutes before 4pm on October 15, 2018, that a lady member of a couple had suffered an ankle injury while hiking, somewhere around the top of the gorge named Rám-szakadék. They could not determine their exact position, nor was the signal strength sufficient for proper communication. They indicated that they would definitely ask for a rescue because they could not continue their tour or move back with the injured leg.

It could not be exactly determined whether they were close to the upper or lower endpoints. We issued the alert to the membership and went to the scene in two groups. Those who were in Northern Budapest (closer to the site) were directed to the site, who came from the south part, they went to the warehouse, where they collected equipment, and they continued to Dömös (a village near the lower end of the gorge).

Unfortunate death in Abaliget cave

On the afternoon of August 4, 2018, a man participating in a tourist cave tour in the Abaliget Stalactite Cave became ill and his circulation collapsed as he made his way up the stairs leading to the Great Hall at the end of the built-up part of the cave.

Accidentally, as a visitor to the tour, one of the doctors of our rescue service started an immediate resuscitation together with the arrived National Ambulance Service however the man's life could not be saved.

The corpse was transported to the surface by external members of the BMSz present and arriving at the site, on the stretcher of the territorial unit.

We must emphasize that the Abaligeti Cave - like the other visitor friendly, pre-built, sometimes wheelchair accessible, visitable caves in Hungary - can be visited in complete safety in street clothes, without any training. Unfortunately, the issue that happened can occur anywhere, on the street, or even at home. 

BMSz expresses its condolences to the relatives of the deceased.