11-year-old girl falls into cave during orienteering race in southern Poland
An 11-year-old orienteering competitor fell into a closed cave near Bąkowiec Castle in Morsko, Poland, and was rescued by GOPR using rope techniques before being flown to hospital with a head injury.
What happened
On Sunday morning, 16 August, an 11-year-old girl participating in an orienteering race near the ruins of Bąkowiec Castle in Morsko, Silesia, left the designated route and fell into a crevice between rocks. She plunged into Stefanowa Dziura, a cave not open to visitors and accessible only to speleologists, located on the Kraków-Częstochowa Jura. Sources differ on the depth of the fall: TVN24, FAKT24, and Super Express report approximately seven metres, while RMF FM and Dziennik Zachodni cite 10 to 12 metres. Rescuers from the Juraj Group of GOPR said a thick layer of leaves on the cave floor partially cushioned the impact.
Rescue operation
The first team on site, described by GOPR as a "szpica" consisting of two rescuers including a medical rescuer, descended on a rope to reach the girl. One rescuer maintained voice contact with her throughout, assessed her condition, provided first aid, and secured her for evacuation. Additional rescuers then arrived and prepared a rope system to extract her. The terrain around Bąkowiec Castle, full of narrow crevices and rock formations characteristic of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, complicated the operation and required particular caution from all teams involved.
Due to the steep terrain, the Lotnicze Pogotowie Ratunkowe (LPR) helicopter, identified as "Ratownik 4" from Katowice, could not land near the cave entrance and instead touched down at the foot of the slope in Morsko. A GOPR mountain ambulance then transported the LPR doctor and medic to the cave opening, where they waited for the evacuation to conclude. After the girl was brought to the surface, she was transferred to the mountain ambulance, taken to the helicopter, and flown to hospital.
- Emergency services receive report of child fallen into cave near Bąkowiec Castle
- Two-rescuer GOPR team descends on rope; one maintains voice contact with girl
- Rescuer reaches girl, assesses condition, provides first aid and secures her
- Additional rescuers prepare rope extraction system
- Girl brought to surface, conscious with head injury
- Girl transferred by mountain ambulance to LPR helicopter, flown to hospital
Condition and hospital transport
After being brought to the surface, the girl was conscious and had sustained a head injury. She was handed over to the LPR crew from Katowice and flown to hospital. Grzegorz Nowik, press officer of the County Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Zawiercie, confirmed the extraction on TVN24.
The 11-year-old has already been extracted from the cave. She has a head injury, she is conscious, LPR is taking her.
Circumstances of the fall
According to kom. Marta Wnuk, spokesperson for the County Police Headquarters in Zawiercie, preliminary findings indicate the girl left the designated route during the sports competition and fell into the crevice between rocks for unexplained reasons. The girl was participating in an orienteering camp that included a race through the area near the castle ruins.
From preliminary findings, during the sports competition the 11-year-old participant left the designated route and for unexplained reasons fell into a crevice between the rocks.
The area around Bąkowiec Castle was secured during the operation, with all emergency services engaged. No further details about the girl's health condition or the exact circumstances of the fall had been released as of the latest reports. GOPR rescuers emphasized the complexity of cave operations.
Cave operations require an efficient combination of medical rescue, rope techniques, and good cooperation among all services involved in the operation.
