Recently we had to say goodbye to two people who dedicated their lives to caves, mountains, cave and mountain rescues. While working together many times during the years we have became good friends. We will hold their memories in our hearts forever.

Bartolomej Šturmann (1965 – 2020)

Unfortunately after a long illness the president of the Cave Explorers of Rozsnyó (Speleo Roznava) passed away.

Berci started caving in 1989 and joined the Speleo Roznava caving group in 1991 with which he caved in the caves and karst areas of the surrounding countries, he participated in many foreign cave expeditions like the polish Snezna or the Slovenian Brezni pro Gamsovi caves.

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!

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.

On February 1, 2020, a basic first aid practice was organized for the third time for the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service by elsosegely.hu (Elsősegélynyújtás Oktatásáért Alapítvány).

The basic goal of these practices is to make our cave rescuers, both as civilians and as rescue workers during rescues, aware of the modern guidelines and aspects of basic first aid, as well as to gain practical experience in how to deal with injuries.

The current practice was attended by 21 people, 15 of them are members of the Cave Rescue Service, 2 people were members of the HUNOR (Hungarian National Organization For Rescue Services), and another 4 people were present as guests.

This practice also provided an opportunity to strengthen cooperation between the organizations above.

On 31th of January 2020, the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service organized a blood donation for the third time, in the usual place in Budapest, in the reception building of the Szemlő-hegyi-cave.

The registration of the participants took place in the exhibition hall, where in the background the inscriptions like “I am thirsty, but NOT bloodthirsty” could been read as attunements.

This year’s summary in brief: 27 blood donors x 4.5 dl of blood taken = 12 liters of blood (equivalent to 2.5 adults).

This blood donation was announced mainly for cavers, the members of the cave rescue service and the staff of the Danube-Ipoly National Park, which also provided the venue, and we were also waiting for the voluntiers from Facebook.

This year, 27 of the 33 registered participants were able to donate blood, 3 of whom were new blood donors. 

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.