WARSAW, September 14 (RIA Novosti) - Three Chechen girls have died of exposure in the Bieszczady Mountains, in southern Poland, trying to cross illegally from Ukraine.

Their bodies were discovered by Polish border guards, who earlier detained their mother and her two-year-old son.

"The woman told the border guards that three other children were stranded several kilometers from where she was found. The guards searched the High Bieszczady Mountains and discovered the bodies of three girls, aged six, 11 and 13," a border guards spokesman said.

The 36-year-old woman and her surviving child have been hospitalized, and her serious condition has prevented the police from questioning her yet.

According to the border guards, the dead girls were dressed in summer clothing, and one was found barefoot.

They speculated the family had intended to cross into Slovakia through Poland, and then into Austria.

Temperatures in the Bieszczady Mountains Thursday night dropped to 3 degrees Celsius (37 degrees Fahrenheit). It is believed the woman became lost and wandered through the mountains for four days before being discovered.