Landslides In Julian's Alps, 3 Croatian Climbers Killed

UNSPLASH/Matteo Bellia ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Three Croatian climbers died after a landslide hit below the peak of Mount Toska in the Julian Alps, Slovenia.

The search for climbers, who continued to climb despite bad weather warnings, began on Sunday when rescue teams found the bodies of one of them before being forced to stop operations due to poor conditions.

A team of 45 rescuers, police, and helicopters continued their search on Monday, October 6 and found the bodies of two climbers at an altitude of 1,800 meters.

"The three of them were killed," the leader of the Miha Arh rescue team told a news conference attended by Slovenian and Croatian interior ministers.

"The operation is dangerous and difficult for rescue teams," he said.

Helicopters were unable to take off from the ground due to bad weather and had to start their journey on Monday from the top of a nearby mountain to reach the location indicated by a phone signal from one of the climbers.

Arh said wet snow and wind may have caused the avalanche.

The three climbers are part of a group of Croatians from the city of Split in Adriatics.

Snow fell in mountains across Southeast Europe last week, following an unusually high period of temperature.

Minister of Home Affairs Bostjan Poklukar appealed to the public not to climb to the mountains.

"The snow is quite thick and the conditions are very difficult, so I advise not to travel to the mountains, because we don't want to endanger the mountain rescue team and helicopter crew," said Poklukar.