A couple from Co Mayo were fatally injured in a motorway crash with a car travelling in the wrong direction in South Wales in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Five people were killed in the collision which happened at about 3 a.m. on the M4 near Newport.
A husband and wife travelling in one vehicle and three young men in a second vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene.
The couple, both believed to be in their sixties, and UK residents, were travelling back to the UK after holidaying in Co Mayo.
The couple have a holiday home on Achill island and both are believed to be natives of the island.
The UK police have not yet named those who died.
It is believed that the tragedy occurred in the wake of a police chase of the car in which the young men were travelling.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating the two-car collision that resulted in the motorway being closed for hours.
Tom Davies, the IPCC Commissioner, said yesterday, "at around 3a.m. Monday morning a marked police vehicle had reason to try and stop a car containing four male occupants.
"Early indications are that the vehicle being pursued took a turn onto the motorway in the wrong direction. The police vehicle did not follow the car at that point, and some one and a half miles down the motorway, the fatal collision occurred," the commissioner concluded.
The couple have close family and friends living in Achill and spent extended periods in their holiday home on the island.