Between May 5 and 10, together with the Aggtelek National Park Directorate and within the framework of the ECRA (European Cave Rescue Association), we organized our international rescue exercise, “Stuck in Baradla – 2026.” Besides the Hungarian participants, 47 cave rescuers and cave rescue doctors from 17 countries attended the training. The whole event came together largely because cave rescuers seem capable of mobilizing an almost endless amount of volunteer work when the goal is worthwhile — and because the Aggtelek National Park Directorate has long been an exceptionally supportive partner, doing a great deal to ensure that the thousands of cavers visiting the region each year are backed by the strong safety net provided by the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service. Running partly in parallel with the international exercise, both in time and location, we also held our own national spring rescue training.

The central focus of the exercises was the treatment of severely injured patients. It means that we were concentrating on critically ill, unstable patients in isolated expedition-style cave environments. The cave rescue doctors demonstrated and shared the knowledge and experience they have gathered in treating life-threatening injuries underground. Fortunately, serious cave accidents are rare.

Over the past 65 years, the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service has received numerous state honors as an organization, and many of our members have also been recognized for their voluntary work. Over the years, we have been awarded several Lifesaving Medals and Medals for Bravery, received the Order of the Hungarian People’s Republic, and been named Excellent (elsewhere: Meritorious) Workers of Physical Education and Sport. In the past 25 years, our leaders have also been awarded the Officer’s Cross and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary.

Following the remarkable cave diving rescue at Esztramos in 2002, we were presented with a painting as a commemorative gift, which has unfortunately since been lost.

This list of recognitions is now extended by the Gold Grade of the Medal for Public Service, which the president of the BMSz received today—after quite an adventurous journey. While the award is formally presented to an individual, we believe it reflects the outstanding professional dedication of all past and present cave rescuers. On behalf of our entire community, we are grateful for this recognition.

If one is already fed up with election stress, going caving is a good idea – down there, no campaign messages will catch up with you. Perhaps similar reasons led that group of friends toward the quiet underground world when they set off for an underground adventure tour in the Mátyás-hegy Cave on Friday afternoon.

At 13:55, one member of the group made a wrong move while squeezing through a narrow passage in the Toldy-branch; the sudden exertion at an awkward angle resulted in a shoulder injury. The cave guide immediately recognized that the 56-year-old man would not be able to leave the cave on his own. He began protecting the casulty against hypothermia and alerted the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service.

Within an hour of the alert, we were on site, by the injured person. Our cave rescue doctor examined the man and, apart from the shoulder injury, found his vital signs to be stable. After immobilizing the injured limb and relieving his pain, we began transporting him to the surface in a specialized cave rescue stretcher.

This year the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service (BMSz) celebrates the 65th anniversary of its founding. We, the currently active cave rescuers – just like the generations before us – work to make caving and cave exploration safer for our community.

Over the course of our operation, we have carried out nearly 600 rescue missions in which cavers, hikers, or paragliders got into trouble in locations so difficult to access that other rescue organizations would hardly have been able to provide effective assistance. Beyond rescue operations, members of the cave rescue services have played a major role in raising the standard of caving training in Hungary to an international level, thereby helping to prevent cave accidents.

Our work focuses on members of the caving and outdoor community, whom we unfortunately meet most often when something has gone wrong. Opportunities to meet at events or demonstrations and to show something of our work are rare.

Earlier this week, our seven-member instructor team returned to Budapest after spending almost two weeks in China delivering a cave rescue training course.

The Grimp Day is a rope rescue competition specifically designed for firefighters. Our connection to this field comes from many years of involvement in training Hungarian firefighters engaged in alpine rescue, and we also count several firefighter supporters among our members. It was at one of these international competitions that the idea emerged to expand our organizational connections beyond cavers from neighboring countries and to establish relations with China—its cavers, cave rescuers, and firefighters as well.

After a long coordination process, this spring we had the opportunity to host five Chinese cavers in Budapest during the basic training course for our newly admitted  members of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service (BMSz). Following our four-day course, we assured our Chinese friends that despite language barriers they would be welcome at any of our trainings, workshops and exercises.

Dear Hungarian Cave Rescue Service,

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks for the superhuman work you carried out during the rescue following the accident at Vadálló-kövek on October 31, 2025.

In today’s world, the humanity and compassion with which you treated my mother throughout the entire process truly deserve special recognition. You also took care of us (my husband, our dog, and me), making sure that we got back to the car safely. Moments like this restore my faith in people. This positive experience (of course not the accident itself, but the way the situation was handled) showed that selflessness and willingness to help still exist, for which I am eternally grateful.

My mother has already undergone surgery, received a cast for eight weeks, and is recovering at our home. She asked me to be sure to pass on her thanks as well.

Once again, thank you, thank you all:
Z Fruzsina,
Z Lászlóné (my mother),
K Gergő (my husband),
Drazsé (our hiking dachshund).

(The article about the rescue is available by clicking HERE.)