A nine-year-old boy and a 24-year old man died in separate road crashes in County Antrim and County Down last night.
The nine-year old boy was travelling with his parents in a sliver BMW which hit a white box lorry on the Ballymena to Antrim road at 8.30pm last night.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the driver of the lorry and his two passengers were not injured. One man has been arrested and is helping police with their inquiries, a spokeswoman said.
The accident happened near the Shanksbridge junction on the Lisnevenagh Road. In County Down, a 24-year-old man was killed when the car he was in hit a wall in Castlewellan at 11pm last night.
The man was a passenger in a car travelling from Castlewellan towards Newcastle. It crashed into a wall between Drumee cemetery and the Cap and Saucer junction.
A PSNI spokeswoman said the three other people in the car were taken to hospital but their injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. The two fatal collisions bring the number of road deaths in the North so far this year to 27.
SDLP South Down Assembly Member Margaret Ritchie expressed her sympathies to the family and friends of the 24-year-old man who lost his life on the Castlewellan Road last night.
"It is deeply regrettable that the life of a young man who had so much ahead of him has been cut short like this. No words can describe the deep sorrow felt in South Down at this time but I am sure the entire community will rally around the family," she said.
Meanwhile, the local SDLP councillor for North Antrim Declan O'Loan said the death of a nine-year-old boy on the Ballymena to Antrim road was deeply saddening.
"The whole community are stunned by this tragedy and our heartfelt sympathies go out to the boy's parents, wider family and friends."
He added: "For our roads to claim the life of one so young is a stark reminder for us all of the real dangers for all road users."