A school group went missing in the Börzsöny Mountains—this was the scenario of a large-scale exercise organized by the Disaster Management Authority on May 6, 2025, near Királyrét.
According to the exercise's script, a group of ten students got lost in the forest, with one child sustaining serious injuries after falling several meters down a steep slope into the Kisinóc Stream. When dozens of firefighters arrived at the Cseresznyefa parking area, only the location of the injured child was known—the whereabouts of the others remained unknown.
Under the coordination of the Disaster Management Authority, the Vác Professional Fire Department, the Börzsöny Mountain Rescue Service, the Leányfalu and Visegrád Volunteer Fire Departments, and the Pest County Search and Rescue Service were dispatched to the scene. The operations of the Disaster Management Operational Service were supported by the mountain rescue team's command, providing specialized equipment and local knowledge.
The mountain rescue service's medical team and alpinists were the first to reach the seriously injured child. Upon initial assessment, they determined that due to the nature of the injury, the child could only be moved with limited mobility, necessitating the construction of a rope system for the rescue. The alpinists quickly set up the system, extracted the injured child, and, with the assistance of firefighters, transported them on foot to the assembly point.
Meanwhile, other firefighting units (supported by mountain rescuers) formed search chains to comb through the surrounding area. The Pest County Search and Rescue Service deployed a specialized drone to assist in locating the missing children.
The search teams gradually found the missing and injured students: one had suffered a broken ankle on a steep hillside and had to be brought up using rope support and a stretcher. Another child's leg had become trapped by a tree branch that pierced their thigh. After specialized medical care, firefighters carefully removed the branch from the limb.
The conditions were intentionally made realistically challenging: at the peak of the exercise, five incident sites were managed simultaneously, with numerous units working in parallel on various tasks. This demanded significant attention and coordinated effort from all participants.
By the end of the exercise, all "missing" individuals were successfully rescued. Special thanks go to the students from the Váci SZC Király Endre Vocational High School and Secondary School, who patiently endured the role of "injured" individuals and all the associated challenges.
The exercise achieved its goal: participating units gained valuable experience in each other's operations and are now better prepared to collaborate effectively in real-life situations.
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