Hungarian Water Rescue Expert Service

In addition to health preservation, we emphasize the importance of accident prevention and the instant response to emergencies. MOL was motivated by the idea of decreasing the number of water accidents and of preventing deaths, when it decided to sponsor the Hungarian Water Rescue Expert Service.

The service was established in Zánka, Hungary in the fall of 1999, when nearly thirty people convened with the purpose to establish a water rescue public service, which would be able to assist the prevention of water accidents efficiently. There were many sailors, swimmers, and water lovers amongst the founding members. Today, the service has more than three hundred members, and it organizes and conducts nearly ten water rescue trainings annually. Water rescuers are on duty at nearly forty beaches along the shoreline of Lake Balaton. The service ran six rescue centers with six rescue boats in the 2006 peak season, and it expanded to the national level in the summer of 2006. The following year, Sándor Bagyó, the president of the Water Rescue Expert Service, also supported by MOL, was granted the Balaton Regional Public Security Award for his voluntary efforts. This recognition was initiated by The Public Security Consultancy Agencyy in 2003.