This year, the Aggtelek National Park celebrates a remarkable convergence of anniversaries: the Gömör–Torna Karst has been part of the World Heritage for 30 years, the National Park itself turns 40, and it was 200 years ago that Imre Vass passed what was then considered the most promising endpoint of the Baradla Cave – the so-called “Vaskapu” (Iron Gate).

Imre Vass, the “certified surveyor of Gömör County” in the 19th century, was a curious, perhaps somewhat restless man. He often visited the cave opening beneath Baradla Hill, near the village of Aggtelek. His explorations reached the section known as Vaskapu in 1821, where the limitations of contemporary techniques brought him to a halt. “Thus far and no further,” he declared, and left his signature on the spot: “Vass Imre 1821.” This inscription remains visible today, and experienced tour guides can point it out on cave tours. 

18-21.04.2024

In September 2023, a successful international cave rescue operation was executed in the Morca Cave in Turkey from a depth of over 1,000 meters. The operation, which was widely covered by global media outlets, is detailed on our website: click here.

Hungary was represented in the operation by two Hungarian rescue services: the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service (BMSZ), joined by the Bakony Cave Rescue Service. After the successful rescue, participants from each country returned home, and the opportunity to reflect on and discuss the details and experiences of the operation was understandably not possible at the scene at that time, however the absence of this important discussion was soon recognised.

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. 

Grimpday, one of the most prestigious rope rescue competitions in the world, is held every year in the beautiful city of Namur in Belgium. Previously, there were Hungarian participants in 2011, where Richárd Horváth and Csaba Császár, members of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service (BMSZ), strengthened the team of the Budapest Fire Brigade.

In this year's competition, the HUNOR team was also able to participate from Hungary. Hunor is the organization of professional heavy search and rescue, capable of being deployed under special circumstances under the National Directorate General for Disaster Management of the Ministry of Interior.

4 of the members of the starting team are active members of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service in civil life. The competition featured 30 rescue teams from 13 countries from 4 continents, thus team members were very honored to participate.

The Ultrabalaton running race was held on the 11-13 May. Our team of four rescue members participated in the event. Lajos Sass, Kilián Huber, Péter Kunisch and Péter Gonda ran in the colours of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service. This year, the team was escorted by a driver, Zoltán Kiss, also a team member of the rescue service.

The weather was rather moody, the temperature was around 3-4C in the early morning, which was followed by a 25-degree heat.  The 220 kms’ distance race had to be finished in a storm during night. The first runner of the team started at 6:35 a.m. on Saturday and the last arrived at 2:31 a.m. on Sunday in the finish area.

The long race was exhaustive enough and it was interspersed with minor cramps and unsettled stomach.