The two female victims, a Pole and a Czech citizen, died on the Monkova Valley hiking trail when the shelter they were in with 14 other people was hit by an avalanche of water, mud and stones.

The Slovak mountain rescue team, Horska Zachranna Służba (HZS), dispatched two ambulances and two rescue helicopters to the site and transported some of the injured to hospital. They failed to save the lives of the two women.

“Out of nowhere, a terrible downpour came, even though it had been sunny all day,” the mayor of the nearby village of Ždiar, Pavol Bekeš, told the Slovak television channel Markíza.

According to the mayor, the river level quickly rose right in front of people’s eyes. Local people were the first to go to the aid of the tourists, but the river and fallen trees made it difficult for them to reach the group at first.

Slovak media initially reported, citing the mayor of Ždiar, that the victims were a Slovak woman and a Polish woman. In fact, the Slovak woman was actually Czech, the Czech Foreign Ministry has confirmed.

According to the Tatra National Park Administration, the hiking trail in Monkova Valley is now closed.

“The green-marked trail is closed until further notice,” the national park said on social media.

Storm weather warnings remain in place for most of Slovakia on Friday and Saturday.