Two more people have died following road accidents bringing the number of deaths on Northern Ireland's roads to 15 this year.

A man was killed in a crash outside Ballymena, County Antrim, while another man who was injured in December died in hospital.

The man killed near Ballymena in the early hours of Wednesday died when his car crashed on the Crankhill Road dual carriageway, a short distance from Glarryford Cross.

He was Paul McKendry, 24, from Murob Park in Ballymena.

Yellow Goddess

No other vehicle was involved. One army Yellow Goddess went to the scene and local firefighters left their picket lines to help.

Another man, who was injured in a crash at the Ballydougan Road in Downpatrick in December, has died in hospital.

He was Tom McClurg, 46, of Ballymacormick Drive in Bangor.

Meanwhile, police are investigating a fatal crash on a motorway close to Belfast in which two County Antrim teenagers died.

Lynn Anne Halliday, 18, from Gannett Way, Carrickfergus, and Jonathan Connolly, 17, from Oakwood Road in the town, died in the accident off the M5 motorway on Tuesday.

The vehicle they were travelling in veered off the motorway, crashed through a fence and ended up on rocks on the shoreline of Belfast Lough.

Four others were injured including a 20-year-old woman whose condition is described as serious, and a 17-year-old girl who has head and chest injuries.

The police said the cause of the accident had not yet been established.

Driving conditions in the area were good at the time and it is not known why the vehicle left the carriageway.

Police Chief Inspector Mark Gilmore said the circumstances would be fully investigated.

The deaths mean that 15 people have died on the roads in the first 22 days of this year.