Mojstrana - In two unrelated accidents, two mountaineers died on Sunday while climbing the Mali Triglav mountain in the Julian Alps, the third highest peak in Slovenia. In both cases, all the circumstances point to an accident in very difficult conditions, the Kranj Police Department said.

The first fatal accident occurred around 10am when a Slovenian citizen fell to his death, followed by the second, which involved a foreigner who met the same fate on the same spot only an hour later.

The rescue teams featured a helicopter crew of the Slovenian Armed Forces, mountain rescuers from Mojstrana and the Mountain Police Unit.

Conditions in the mountains are currently very difficult, with snow and ice covering the trails, so the Kranj police are again urging people to exercise great caution when visiting the mountains.

These were not the first tragic mountaineering accidents in Slovenia this weekend, as on Saturday, a 37-year-old Croatian mountaineer died in the Kamnik Saddle area in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps.