The officers were traveling along a shoreline highway linking Warrenpoint and Kilkeel at 4 a.m. Sunday when their four-wheel-drive vehicle crashed, officials told The Times of London.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident and there was no initial evidence of a link to terrorism, the newspaper said, adding police had sealed off the scene of the crash.

"This is a dreadful tragedy," Basil McCrea of the Ulster Unionist Party, told The Times. "And it is a stark reminder of the debt we owe the (Police Service of Northern Ireland) for the work they do for the community."