Two women died, while four other tourists, including a woman, were missing after being washed away in an overflowing stream at a waterfall near the Karnataka port town of Karwar on Sunday, police said.

"The incident occurred late afternoon when a group of 25-30 tourists from Goa's Madgaon were in the stream at the Nagarmani waterfall near Chandia village," Uttara Kannada Superintendent of Police Patil Vinayak Vasanth Rao told IANS on phone.

As the water surged due to heavy rains in the streams' catchment areas, the tourists were caught unawares and some of them were swept away by the current.

"Though bodies of two women have been recovered from the stream, search for other four was called off after sunset due to darkness and rain," said Rao.

The Karwar Rural police have registered a case of missing persons and unnatural death on a complaint by the group.

"The search operation will be resumed on Monday morning," added Rao.

As some of the male members in the group attempted to rescue those washed away, police learnt about the incident after a group member rushed to the Chandia rural police station to seek help.

"A dozen personnel, including swimming experts, divers and men from the State Disaster Relief Force were pressed into the search and rescue mission but could not locate anyone," Rao added.