Second Hungarian soldier dies of wounds sustained in Afghanistan

A Hungarian soldier seriously injured in an attack in Afghanistan two weeks ago died this Tuesday in the military hospital Honvédkórház in Budapest. He is the second mortal casualty of attack on home-bound Hungarian troops.

Warrant officer György Kolozsvári suffered serious injuries when insurgents attacked a convoy on August 23. The convoy carrying 29 Hungarian soldiers of the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) was on its way to the city of Mazar-e Sharif, the center of the Northern Region of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) when – following a roadside explosion –, they came under fire from three directions 20 kilometers northwest of Pol-e Khumri.

One of the Hungarians soldiers, sergeant-major Judit Ábrahám Papp died on the spot from wounds inflicted by a rocket-propelled grenade. After the incident, the convoy returned to the base of the Hungarian PRT where the injured received medical treatment. The seriously injured György Kolozsvári was first transferred to a NATO military hospital in Mazar-e Sharif and two days later – already in unconscious condition – to the military hospital in Budapest where he was reported to be in stable but critical condition.

However, even – as a communiqué released by the Hungarian Ministry of Defense puts it – a care of the highest standard was not able to save his life. He had been treated in the intensive care unit but the injuries inflicted by splinters proved fatal and he died in the morning of September 7.

György Kolozsvári served in a rifle batallion in Hungary and also had international experience as he served with the peacekeepers in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was about to finish his second term in Afghanistan when the fatal attack occurred.

Hungarian troops have been present in Baghlan province since 2006 helping building roads, medical institutions, even constructing a smaller power station. Several of them have been injured in acts of war but this was the first mortal attack on Hungarian soldiers. Earlier, Hungary lost two bomb-disposal experts in Afghanistan as they were trapped by insurgents.