The five deaths in a head-on collision in Newry, Co Down, have brought to 82 the total of road deaths in Northern Ireland so far this year.A fireman in attendance at the car crash on the Dublin Road on the southern side of the city was struck by a car about an hour after the incident and carried along the road on the bonnet of a car for up to 40 metres.
He was treated for leg injuries.
The car failed to stop and was later found abandoned in the Drumliska area.
The five who died in the crash in the early hours of yesterday were Ms Margaret McArdle (60), her daughter Siobhán (26) from just outside Banbridge, Co Down and sister-in-law Ms Rita Haughey, who was also 60. They were returning from Croke Park in Dublin where they had been at the closing ceremony of the Special Olympics.
A brother and sister also died. They were Ms Clare Collins (26) and her brother Edward (25), from Meigh, Co Armagh.
Ms McArdle's cousin, Father Tom McConville said: "The family is devastated. Nobody can believe this has happened."
Mr Brian McGuigan of the Fire Service said: "The two cars were barely recognisable. The five occupants were all heavily trapped.
"It was one of the most serious incidents that I personally have had the displeasure to attend."
Fire officers who spent some three hours cutting free the five bodies said they had never seen anything like the carnage.
The crash happened on a steep hill which links the city centre with the main Dublin-Belfast road which bypasses Newry. It is thought the Collins' car was being driven south towards Co Armagh while the other car was being driven down the hill in the other direction. The deaths follow a concerted operation to reduce the numbers of road deaths by the PSNI. Operation Viper has targeted those suspected of drink-driving and those breaking the speed limit and resulted in thousands of prosecutions.