UPDATE: September 11, 2023 11:38 p.m

THE STRETCHER WITH MARK HAS REACHED THE SURFACE
After 58.5 hours of hard work  with the participation of nearly 200 rescuers on the spot and with the help of almost as many background supporters from 10 countries, in frame of a huge international cooperation as one team, we managed to transport Mark up to the surface from the depth of 1040 m. Details coming soon.

In this caverescue operation participated the members of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service and the Bakony Cave Rescue Service from Hungary.

UPDATE: September 11, 2023 3:26 p.m

 The stretcher with Mark is on level -150m!

On the afternoon of 28^th of August 2023, the Bakonyi Cave Rescue Service started a cave rescue mission.

Caves are not only natural values that must be protected due to their non-renewable formations or fragile ecological balance, but they can also hide valuable archaeological sites, which can open a window to the world of the bygone past for knowledgeable specialists. A few months ago, the researchers of the Csodabogyós cave at Balatonederic discovered some unexpected interesting findings. They found unusual remains of bones and teeth in the debris near the entrance of the cave. The cave explorers invited paleontologists, geologists and archaeologists to the cave, who began the methodical and scientific exploration of the site, hoping to learn more about the small vertebrates that lived in the Miocene age.

Yesterday, during the field work in the cave, a member of the MTA-MTM Paleontological Research Group fell ill. Late in the afternoon, during the work underground, a lady researcher suddenly fell ill and - although the she was near the entrance - it seemed clear that she would not be able to leave the cave without assistance.

For years, Belgian firefighters have been organising rescue exercises and competitions for their own national staff under the name of The Grimpday. In recent years it has grown into a truly international competition - staying in the original country - but professional and civilian rescue organisations from all over the world come to compete. Under the leadership of the Hungarian Hunor professional heavy search and rescue (USAR) and industrial technical rope rescue team, which has already participated successfully in The Grimpday for several years, a team of enthusiastic volunteers has created the Hungarian equivalent of The Grimpday, focusing on mainly Hungarian firefighting and other rescue organisations, as in the original competition.

The weekend competition provided an opportunity for volunteer and professional rescue teams to showcase their rope skills, creativity, planning and organisational skills, and cooperation abilities in complex rescue simulation situations after years of practice. The competing teams had to perform tasks in urban, industrial and field conditions. All the competing teams rescued people from a 60-metre-high Ferris wheel on Elisabeth Square, lifted seriously injured people onto the embankment, moved overweight stretchers in a city centre staircase and all teams had to deal with the rubble of the Rókahegyi quarry.

Dear Friends and all who have been anxiously awaiting the news since last night: Imre is doing well now, he was pushed out of the operating room half an hour ago. His ankle was completely shattered, 11 screws and a lot of metal plates and wires were used to mosaic it together. Two orthopaedic doctors performed a demonstration surgery on him for a group of trainee doctors. He'll be off the field for a good few weeks, but then, if all goes well, he'll be back to hiking - although we'd rather avoid the rougher terrain for a while.

We can't tell you how grateful we are for the help of the Cave Rescue Service and for the empathetic, humane way they kept in touch with us during the long hours of waiting and then the way they handled the whole rescue - with culture, discretion and respect. Their doctor has kept in touch with us ever since - we really appreciate his care. And thank you to the nice couple hiking near us for their help in the first few metres, thanks to them Imre was able to get out to where the cave rescuers reached us. Thank you also to the rescuers of the National Ambulance Service, who came from several counties away, for making the trip to the hospital before heading home. And thank you to our guardian angels in action for writing the numbers of the Cave Ambulance Service on our mobile phones before we left! We encourage all fellow hikers to check their website when heading out into rougher terrain and enter their relevant number into your mobile phone. In case of trouble, they are the ones to call, as 112 or the fire brigade would alert them in the same situation.

We wish you all an accident-free hike, Orsi Bojtár and Katalin Bagi (the article about the rescue is available by CLICKING HERE)

On July 8, 2023, Dr. B.I., 73, was hiking in the Pilis with his wife and friends near Dobogókő on the Thirring trail. Shortly after 16.00 h, he stepped into a pit on the hiking trail and twisted his ankle, hurt himself and could not stand.

His family members alerted the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service (BMSz) on the basis of an alert sticker seen on Dobogókő. One group of our cave rescuers went from the warehouse with rescue equipment to the scene, another group went straight to Dobogókő.

AFrom the car park, it is possible to reach the site, which is located at the foot of the Thirring cliffs, under vertical walls, by walking a kilometre through the forest, descending 100 metres in the meantime.

The first team with the BMSz doctor arrived at the site shortly after 18h00 and started treating the injured.

The injured limb was secured and the man was placed in a special cave rescue stretcher - a suitable way to transport the patient in difficult terrain. While the injured man was being treated, the rest of the rescue team started to set up the ropeways for the transport.

At 19:09, the transport of the casualty began, with the decision of the team leader to use rope techniques to transport the casualty over the steep, forest terrain between large rocks. After overcoming a 100-metre difference in elevation, the stretcher was transported on the tourist road on the upper, almost horizontal section to the car park.

On April 3, 2022, Márton Mede has not returned from the end of his cave exploration work at the endpoint at Siphon three of the Kossuth Cave in Jósvafő, Hungary at a depth of -48 meters. His disappearance marked the beginning of Hungary's longest-ever week-long complex diving and cave rescue operation, which unfortunately only managed to bring the diver's body to the surface. As far as we know, at the moment, the tragedy was caused by an underwater collapse, during which the diver died immediately or very quickly. During the week of the rescue, a total of 20 organisations and more than 250 people were involved in the operation. The underwater part of the rescue was carried out by the Amphora diving club, the dry part of the cave was managed by the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service, the Association of Cave Rescuers of Northern Hungary, the Bakony Cave Rescue Service and the cave rescuers of Speleo Roznava, the surface management and logistics were carried out by the Pest County Search and Rescue Service, the Counter-Terrorism Centre, the Civil Protection, the Aggtelek National Park Directorate (ANPI) and the Municipality of Jósvafő. Several other organisations also provided assistance on the spot, which are reported in the article.

The author of this article is András Hegedűs (Juju), Head of training and development, Rescue Operation Leader at the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service. The detailed summary is published one year after the rescue.

Day one - we have a problem...

Sunday, early afternoon. I'm at work. Ricsi (Richárd Horváth, head of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service - BMSz) calls me on the phone: the lead diver in Kossuth cave hasn’t come up at the given time, then the backup diver went searching after him... Who is it, do we know?...