AN 18-YEAR-OLD student fatally stabbed two women at a high school in northern Slovakia this morning, local authorities have confirmed.

One other person was in a critical condition, the Slovak rescue service said.

The stabbings took place in the town of Spisska Stara Ves, which is located on the border with Poland.

The suspect initially fled, but police said that he was detained shortly after the attack.

“We can confirm two dead, while one person with moderate injuries was transported to hospital,” Danka Capakova from Slovakia’s emergency service told reporters.

Police said that the suspect attacked a teacher and two students. Further details were not immediately available.

Local media reported a deputy principal of the high school and a student are the fatalities.

Interior minister Matus Sutaj Estok and education minister Tomas Drucker travelled to the town and offered their condolences to the relatives.

Drucker said he will work to take steps to prevent such attacks in the future and protect students and teachers.

Calling the attack “a real tragedy”, Slovak President Peter Pellegrini also offered condolences, saying “no problem in the world can be solved with a knife or another weapon”.

The Student Council of Secondary Schools said on Instagram that “hatred and violence have no place in our society, let alone schools where young people should feel safe”.