Two 16-year-old girls have been killed and three young men injured in a road accident in County Down.

Laura Ross, of Castlehill Park in Comber, and Tammy Towers, of Clagan Park in Dundonald, were passengers in a car which careered off the Belfast Road in Newtownards.

The accident happened near Bradshaws Brae shortly after 0300 BST on Sunday.

Police said the car crashed into a telegraph pole, but it is unclear what caused the accident.

No other vehicle was involved.

The injured were taken to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald.

Two are said to be in a "stable but serious" condition at the hospital, with one youth in intensive care.

A third youth has since been transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for treatment to an eye injury.

Assistant divisional fire officer Gabriel Ferguson said fire crews and other emergency services were quickly at the accident.

Closed

He said the two girls were pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.

"The crews did a splendid job of quickly releasing the three other males who were in the vehicle," he said.

"They were conveyed to hospital by ambulance."

The road was closed between the Mile Cross Road and the Ballybarnes Road junctions.

The police want to hear from anyone who may have seen the red Vauxhall Nova car, in which the five young people were travelling, before the accident happened.