In 2024, mountain rescuers brought 7,562 people to safety in approximately 6,509 actions, taking the response rate of the Mountain Rescue Service Salvamont to 100%, Salvamont Romania head Sabin Cornoiu said in a release on Monday.
County and local Salvamont public services provided daily mountain rescue assistance with a number of 450-600 personnel in approximately 140 permanent or seasonal bases and posts in mountain areas with a high tourist inflow, winter sports slopes, and on alpine tourist routes.
Of the total of 7,562 rescued people, 2,443 were handed over to specialized medical units, ambulance services or the Mobile Emergency Resuscitation and Extrication Service - SMURD, 561 were transported by Salvamont personnel to medical units or to meeting points with ambulance or SMURD vehicles, and 122 people were rescued with the help of SMURD-IGAV helicopters; also, 104 bodies were handed over to the forensic medicine service.
Throughout the year, mountain rescuers carried out 84 K9 search and rescue operations in the natural environment and in avalanches, 83 drone-assisted search and rescue actions (54 in the mountains and 29 as a support outside the mountain area), 11 search and rescue actions with divers of the Salvaspeo cave rescue structures, seven search actions for drowning victims with the AI-based special detector, four search actions with underwater drones.
There were 4,080 winter season interventions, of which 3,099 in winter sports areas, 659 in other mountain areas, and 290 people reported to Salvamont first aid facilities. Also, mountain rescuers responded to 32 cases outside the mountain area.
In the summer season, the service carried out a total of 2,429 actions, of which 2,029 in the mountains, 85 interventions took place outside the mountain area; also, 315 people reported to Salvamont first aid facilities.
The Salvamont-Vodafone National Dispatch Center/Vodafone Foundation received 15,310 calls, of which 5,617 direct calls or placed through the 112 emergency line announcing mountain accidents, 712 announcing forest or vegetation fires, and 8,981 calls requesting advice and information about various hikeable mountain trails and ski areas.
Currently, Salvamont uses a unique response system based on state-of-the art technology and drones to find victims - the drones capture images, performing geolocation and identification analysis with the help of artificial intelligence, and using the Vodafone network.
To shorten the response time, Vodafone and the Vodafone Foundation have supported Salvamont with the purchase of the RECCO rescue technology for avalanche victims, but also with the acquisition of equipment, with restoring tourist markings and producing educational material, contributing significantly to the professional development of the Salvamont units all over the country.
Currently, over 100,000 Romanians have the free Salvamont app installed on their Android and iOS devices; the app is a comprehensive mountain information and orientation guide, which also offers an advance mobile location service, allowing the real-time notification of the Salvamont dispatch center about the caller's coordinates.