Three males and two females died in the crash, while a third male was in a serious condition in hospital last night. The dead are understood to have included a mother and daughter, the daughter having been collected from a flight that had earlier arrived in the country.

"It is as if the area has been cursed, " said the mayor of Buncrana, Padraig McLaughlin, last night following the latest road smash to claim multiple lives in the Inishowen Peninsula.

Last October, five young people . . . Charlene O'Connor, Darren Quinn, Gavin Duffy, Rochelle Peoples and David Steele, all travelling in the one car . . . were killed in an accident while on their way home to Buncrana from a nightclub in Redcastle.

"It was devastating in October when five young people lost their lives in a car accident, " said McLaughlin. "I never thought that we would have another accident involving five fatalities a second time in a few months. Not alone are there so many road deaths in the area, but there are so many accidents that result in multiple road deaths."

Yesterday's two-car accident occurred in Lisfannon, near Buncrana, at 4.20am on a bend on the road at Beach Halt, the scene of three fatal accidents in the past two years.

Initial reports from gardai suggested that there was a head-on collision between a Northern Ireland-registered, white Volkswagen Vento, travelling towards Buncrana, and a Cavan-registered burgundy Audi going in the opposite direction towards Derry.

Three female occupants of the Vento died and the fourth male occupant was taken to Letterkenny General Hospital, where his condition was described as serious last night.

The driver and passenger in the Audi, both male, also died.

Both cars were seriously damaged and the Audi caught fire on impact. Two units of the fire brigade, one from Derry and one from Buncrana attended the scene.

The road between Buncrana and Derry remained closed for most of yesterday, causing traffic chaos on the busy coastal stretch. The Audi was lying in the middle of the road on its side, facing towards Buncrana, while the Vento was on the beach side of the road, coming to rest against a concrete post and facing towards Derry.

According to local sources, one of the women who died was 28-year-old Marita Kerpe who worked part-time at the deli-counter in Farren's convenience store on the main Buncrana-Derry road. Kerpe, a mother of two children who live in Latvia, had been working at Farren's since last November.

Bernard Farren, owner of the shop, said he and the staff were devastated by the tragedy. "She was a very reserved and shy young woman who worked from 7am until after lunch. She had only a little English. We are all stunned at what has happened."

Fr John Walsh, parish priest of Buncrana, said he and Fr Con McLaughlin were called to the scene just before 5am. He described what they saw as "total carnage". Fr Walsh administered the last rites to two females and a male who were pronounced dead at the scene.

Garda Superintendent John McFadden, who is leading the investigation, said yesterday that gardai were still in the process of identifying the deceased. A garda technical forensic team were on their way from Dublin to investigate the accident. It is believed all of the deceased worked in and around the Inishowen area.

Both clergy and gardai were unable to confirm yesterday whether any of the deceased were to attend the marriage of a Lithuanian couple at St Mary's Oratory in Buncrana yesterday afternoon.

Mayor Padraig McLaughlin added: "This accident will bring it all back for the families who have lost loved ones in other accidents involving multiple road deaths. Despite road safety campaigns, these accidents always seem to happen in Inishowen. An accident like this shows us all that cars are nothing more than a piece of metal and reminds us of the fragility of life. I would like to express sympathy to the families of the deceased on behalf of everyone in Buncrana."

The Buncrana accident brought to 62 the number of people killed on Ireland's roads so far this year.