Two men in their 30s died last night when their car burst into flames after colliding with a lorry. The accident happened just north of Emyvale in Co Monaghan.
After the accident at 6 p.m. the N2, the main Dublin-Derry road, was closed for nearly four hours.
Gardai were last night trying to confirm the identity of the men, who were possibly from Dublin. Their deaths bring the road death toll this year to 61. Ten people have died in the last nine days.
The men were the only passengers in the Fiat Punto which gardai believe was travelling towards Dublin when it collided head-on with an articulated lorry going the opposite way.
The impact turned the car into a fireball and forced it into a ditch on its wrong side of the road. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene. Their bodies were taken to Monaghan County Hospital.
In January and February of last year 73 people died on the roads. The total number of road deaths in 2000 was 415.
Insp Pat McMurrow of Monaghan said there was no indication as to the cause of the accident, and gardai were examining the scene.
The road between Emyvale and the Border has seen a number of fatal accidents in recent years. Last April three people, all passengers in a car, died when it collided with a lorry.
Gardai and firefighters from Monaghan attended the scene along with ambulance personnel from the North Eastern Health Board.