Ladies and gentlemen, gates are closing!

Magyar Barlangi Mentőszolgálat Cave Rescue barlangi mentés Ferenc-hegyi-barlang Budapest Budai-hegység Rózsadomb rescue Caverescue Hungarian Cave Rescue Service

Cave gates serve a dual symbolic purpose: primarily, they protect caves from damage caused by  intruders; secondarily, they safeguard unprepared visitors from the potential dangers of entering a cave. As caving experience grows, a person not only develops the skills necessary for movement in the underground environment, but also expands their toolkit for solving practical technical problems.

Experienced cavers and guides know the unique secrets of certain cave gates: they know exactly which gate is hard to open, which one requires a shovel or small crowbar, which lock always needs WD-40, and which gate demands the strength of several people to open. However, last night a very different kind of problem occurred while trying to open the gate of the Ferenc-hegyi Cave.

On Monday evening, a groups of 8 cavers were on a caving trip in the Ferenc-hegyi Cave. At the end of the tour, around 9:30 PM, they tried to return to the surface but couldn’t open the gate—which is known to be particularly easy to operate—even while standing at the top of the entrance ladder. Despite multiple attempts, the special lock wouldn’t open with the key, as if something had been broken off inside. A partial explanation came when three others appeared outside the gate and mentioned that their key—presumably an illegal copy that didn’t belong to the lock—had also failed to open it earlier, despite their attempts to force it.

Magyar Barlangi Mentőszolgálat Cave Rescue barlangi mentés Ferenc-hegyi-barlang Budapest Budai-hegység Rózsadomb rescue Caverescue Hungarian Cave Rescue Service

As the group could not safely exit the cave, they managed to call for help using a weak mobile signal near the cave entrance. The Hungarian Cave Rescue Service was alerted - four of us arrived at the scene, joined by the Adrenalin Caving Association’s legendary problem-solver. The solution was simple: drill out the lock cylinder, after which the gate could be opened. A minor complication was finding, in the middle of the night, a power drill that is strong enough to destroy the lock cylinder but small enough to fit through the fist-sized bat hole in the gate. After about fifteen minutes of careful drilling, the lock gave way, and around midnight the stranded cavers were able to reach the surface.

Ferenc-hegyi Cave is a popular destination for the caving community in Budapest, with 1,000–2,000 legal visitors each year. The cave is strictly protected—not only for its breathtaking formations and calcite structures, but also because it offers physically demanding, sporty tours. In this context, “sporty” means the cave features exposed solo climbs of tens of meters even near the entrance, extremely tight squeezes, and a high risk of getting lost due to its complex structure. Given these conditions, the cave may only be visited with the prior approval of the Danube–Ipoly National Park and under the guidance of a certified cave guide.

From what happened yesterday, one could conclude that the cave is not just a favorite playground for those who follow the shared rules of the caving community.

Dear fellow caver, who tried to enter the cave illegally!
We ask you to please try to play by the rules we’ve collectively established—rules that are sometimes written in blood. Help ensure that our community members can take responsible care of themselves, and help us preserve this cave for the generations of cavers who will come after us, just as we were lucky to find it today. If you’d like to go caving, don’t hesitate to reach out to one of the many caving clubs in Budapest. You’ll surely find a group that is welcoming and friendly, and that can legally organize trips for you in line with the shared guidelines.

Photos: Márton Kovács

Magyar Barlangi Mentőszolgálat Cave Rescue barlangi mentés Ferenc-hegyi-barlang Budapest Budai-hegység Rózsadomb rescue Caverescue Hungarian Cave Rescue Service

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No shortage of physician at the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service

Magyar Barlangi Mentőszolgálat Cave Rescue hegyi mentés Hiker rescue Caverescue Hungarian Cave Rescue Service turista mentés visegrádi-hegység prédikálószék Vadálló-kövek

Cave rescuers are human too: on long weekends, we also escape from the town - we go hiking with or families, or throw ourselves into ongoing cave exploration projects. On such weekends, our duty officers always has a harder time assembling the required number of rescuers than for an operation starting on a regular weekday evening.

Fortunately, we had no such difficulties on Pentecost Sunday. Around 2 PM, we received a report and a call for help about an accident at Vadálló-kövek and an injured hiker with a leg injury. In record time—within half an hour—the first of our team members reached the injured person. Luckily they had been camping nearby around Visegrád, attending the Adrenalin Caving Association's weekend event. Soon, 29 of us gathered, including four of our doctors. This was such a rare “summit” of medical presence that we can’t even recall the last drill with so many of them in one place. Two members of the Bakony Cave Rescue Service also participated in the rescue.

A busy long weekend in early May 2025

Magyar Barlangi Mentőszolgálat Cave Rescue Siklóernyős mentés Hiker rescue Caverescue Hungarian Cave Rescue Service turista mentés pilis aggtelek baradla gerecseAfter last week’s Earth Day demo, we tried to look into the future with our newly joined cave rescue teammate — wondering whether the BMSz would be needed over the upcoming long weekend. As it turned out, yes — and more than once.


The long weekend began on Wednesday afternoon. A distress call came from near Vértesszőlős: a paraglider had landed in a tree, not too far from the site where a rescue operation turnded fatal few years before. This time, the help didn’t arrive with a military helicopter, but in the form of a volunteer from the Tree Rescue Group coordinated by BMSz – a team made up of rope access experts, arborists, and cave rescuers. The pilot was swaying about 7–8 meters above the ground and was lucky to be uninjured – but it was unfortunate that due to dry branches, it wasn’t possible to climb above him or build an anchor point for hoisting or lowering. To bring him down safely, a diagonally hauling system was rigged to secure him toward the trunk, and a few thicker dry branches had to be cut to free him. It took about 30 minutes to lower the pilot, and three times as long to retrieve the canopy.

Assistance on Tenkes-hill

Magyar Barlangi Mentőszolgálat Cave Rescue Siklóernyős mentés Hiker rescue Caverescue Hungarian Cave Rescue Service turista mentés tenkes máriagyűd

On the 24th of March 2025, at 10:47 p.m., a phone call was received from the emergency service of the Baranya County Disaster Management Directorate that a man who had been missing in the Máriagyűd area and had been searched for with great force since the afternoon, was finally found on the side of the Siklós quarry, at a depth of about 20-25 meters. Professional fire brigades from several cities arrived at the scene; however, it became evident, that alpine techniques were definitely required to reach the presumably injured young man. After the phone call, the Southern Hungary Regional Unit of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service (BMSZ) was ordered to be on standby.

At 11:24 p.m., the county emergency service requested that the team should go to the scene. The regional unit from Orfű, Abaliget and Pécs arrived at the scene with 4 members at the time of 00:39 am. Upon arrival, professional and volunteer firefighting units had already reached the injured person, who was already in a serious and life-threatening condition. The team began to pull the injured person to the top of the quarry using a hauling system. Our members provided assistance in operating the hauling system and then in lifting the injured person to the edge of the quarry pit.

Cave rescue operation before the xmas concert

Magyar Barlangi Mentőszolgálat Cave Rescue Pál-völgyi Mátyás-hegyi-barlang Caverescue Hungarian Cave Rescue Service ECRA On December 21, while the final preparations for the concert were taking place on stage of Theater Hall, some spectators were caving towards the stage, a DINPI adventure tour for non-caver enthusiasts was climbing in direction to the surface. Towards the end of the tour, during a climb, one of the hikers got injured, his shoulder was dislocated. This type of injury is normally very painful and makes it impossible to leave the cave without help safely.

In this case, for the visitor in trouble, this type of injury was not the first case, so he had moderate pain, no other trauma, he was in good general condition, when the thinking of how to rescue him began. They didn't have to go far, because there were several rescuers present in the cave among the audience and the members of the Speleo Band, so we rushed to the aid of the injured man in the guise of the Cave Rescue Service, we were able to carry out one of the fastest evacuations in our history.

Given the good condition of the injured man, the proximity of the exit, and the easy cave terrain, we developed an assisted rescue plan that worked even with a limited number of rescue resources.

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