A man been arrested following the death of two men after a hit-and-run driver ploughed into a group of cyclists taking part in the cross-Border "maracycle" on Saturday. Another man is seriously ill.
The men who died were Mr Mark Alan Wilson (30), of Castle Heights, Dundrum, Co Down, and Mr Michael McElroy (28), of Dromara Road, Ballyward, Castlewellan, Co Down.
The incident took place five miles north of Newry, Co Down, on the main Belfast-Dublin road. The nine cyclists were among 3,200 taking part in the annual event, organised by Co-operation North, involving a weekend round trip between the two cities.
The group were cycling on the dual carriageway near the Sheepbridge Inn at 3.45 p.m. when a car coming from the Newry direction drove into them. The car did not stop.
Two died at the scene and the others were taken to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry. A short time later a car was recovered 1 1/2 miles away. On Saturday evening a man was arrested.
The RUC has appealed for anyone who saw a silver-grey Toyota Celica car travelling through Newry at about 3.30 p.m. on Saturday to contact them at Newry 65500.
One of the injured was described as "still very ill, but stable" by the hospital authorities yesterday. A second will go home after treatment later today, and the other five were discharged yesterday.
Mr Tony Kennedy, chief executive of Co-operation North, set up nearly 20 years ago to work to improve cross-Border relations, said he and all his staff were deeply shocked.
"Our first thoughts are with the families. We'd like to express our sympathies with them. It's made so much worse for us because many of the cyclists that take part in the maracycle are old friends of ours and we know them well."
This was to be the last staging of the 15-year-old event, which sees the participants making the 200mile round trip over two days, with the Belfast contingent cycling down on Friday to join the Dublin contingent for the return trip on Saturday. One of the reasons Co-operation North had decided to end the event was that the build-up of traffic on the road was making it too hazardous.
The dead and injured were part of a group well known in the Ballynahinch-Castlewellan area of Co Down for their charity cycle rides. They also took part in rides from Loughinisland, Co Down, to Greysteel, Co Derry - the scenes of two loyalist massacres in 1994 - to raise money for Romanian children.