Ljubljana - Slovenian mountains claimed five lives over the past two days in one of the deadliest weekends in years. Discounting those, a total of 179 people have been killed in accidents in the mountains in the past ten years, show data from the Mountain Rescue Association.

Two foreigners were among the five killed in four separate incidents in the Slovenian Alps, including a Croatian who died from his injuries after sliding down the steep slope of Kamniško Sedlo (1,900 m) in the north and falling more than 300 metres deep.

The 37-year-old was hiking with a group of seven other Croatian hikers and had the required gear.

Only a day later a Slovenian and a foreign citizen were killed in two accidents in a space of an hour in the area of Mali Triglav, Slovenia's third highest peak.

Two more were killed on Sunday evening after one of them slipped down the precipitous terrain of Komna, a plateau above Savica Waterfall, and the other tried to help him, but slid as well.

Several other hikers were injured at the weekend, one of the reasons apart from the tricky conditions in the mountains being the large numbers of visitors.

Last year, the Slovenian mountains took 22 lives, as many as in 2019. The highest death toll, at 23, was recorded in 2016. The largest number of mountain rescue interventions was in 2021, at 626.

Some of the worst mountaineering accidents in Slovenia ever include that in June 1997 when five mountain rescuers were killed while training in Turski Žleb above Okrešelj.