A cave driver who died in the Kossuth Cave in Jósvafő was a member of the Diving Service of the Budapest Disaster Management Directorate, and was involved in an accident during a planned exploratory dive in his spare time, the Counter-Terrorism Center reported late on Tuesday.
According to the announcement, the research work continued with another reconnaissance dive on Tuesday evening after detailed analyzes and consultations with cave and dive rescue professionals. While searching for signs of life, the research unit found the missing diver. The evaluation of the video recordings made by the divers has started, and the experts will decide on whether they will bring it to the surface. The director general of the Counter-Terrorism Center, János Hajdu, who coordinates the research, expresses his shock and condolences to the relatives of the deceased on behalf of all the participants in the search, the statement reads. The deceased diver’s colleagues fought for him until the last minute. It was only on Tuesday afternoon that it was revealed that one of the heroes of the Mermaid disaster was being searched in the cave in Jósvafő.
The Budapest Disaster Management Directorate then published on its website: they are following the rescue developments with concern, as one of the most outstanding members of their diving service, the 42-year-old fire chief sergeant Márton Mede, was involved in the accident. Márton Mede dived several times in the Kossuth Cave. According to the information, the accident occurred in a narrow, unknown, fifteen meters long section.
More than fifty professionals worked to rescue the firefighter, and the head of the Diving Service of the Budapest Disaster Management Directorate was also on site. They added: Márton Mede has been working as a firefighter since 2008, during which time he took part in several underwater rescues. In his spare time, he also gained extensive practice as a cave diver.
He took part in foreign research expeditions several times, according to experts, only six or eight divers in Hungary had similar knowledge and experience in the cave research and diving profession. The announcement also reads that the capital’s firefighter won a bronze medal at the European Orienteering Championships in 2014 for his work in search and rescue after the disaster of the Mermaid cruise ship with the Silver Medal of Excellence.
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