5 dead, 30 injured in lightning in Poland's border area with Slovakia

Four people were killed in Poland and another in Slovakia as a result of lightning strikes during thunderstorms on Tatra Mountains at border area between the two countries, Polish media reported Thursday.

Four people, including two children, were killed, Polish Press Agency reported, quoting Polish rescue organization TOPR head Jan Krzysztof.

While Slovak mountain rescue service HZS also reported one death on the Slovak side of Tatra Mountains.

A spokesman for the Polish Tatra rescue services said on Thursday that at least 30 people were hurt as a result of the storm, three of whom needed to be reanimated. The casualties were distributed among hospitals in three towns in the Malopolska region in southern Poland, with doctors saying the number of deaths might still increase.

Polish authorities said that the tragedy happened as a lightning struck a support chain which tourists were using to climb on the Giewont peak, one of the highest in the western Tatras.

A crisis team has been organised in the region, and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Marowiecki travelled to the Tatras on Thursday afternoon to assess the situation. The rescue operation continued into Thursday evening.