Five people died in a traffic accident on the Dempster Highway Monday evening, the RCMP reported today.

The tragedy occured at about 8:30 p.m., said Sgt. Dan Gaudet of the Dawson City RCMP.

The accident happened near the Yukon/Northwest Territories border, about 400 metres inside the Yukon, said Gaudet.

The sole survivor was medevaced to the Inuvik Regional Hospital, where, Gaudet said, he is in stable condition.

Four of the victims were found dead at the scene, said Gaudet. The fifth succumbed to his injuries while police were working at the scene, said Gaudet.

'They were heading southbound on the Dempster Highway,' he said.

'It appears the vehicle started to skid out of control and went off the road over a sharp embankment.'

Gaudet could not say whether alcohol was a factor in the crash.

'We're still investigating the cause of the collision.'

The vehicle, believed to have been a mini-van, was extensively damaged, he said.

Both Dawson City and Fort McPherson, N.W.T. RCMP responded to the call.

The Yukon M Division airplane was also dispatched to pick up RCMP officers in Dawson City and fly to the scene of the crash along with the coroner.

Four of the dead were from Toronto, along with the survivor, said Gaudet. The other deceased was from Whitehorse.

The family has been contacted but because police are still investigating the crash, the names of the deceased are not yet being released.

Inuvik Regional Hospital CEO Deborah Tynes said the hospital could not disclose any details of the survivor.

Yukon chief coroner Sharon Hanley also said she cannot disclose more details about the deceased.

'I haven't examined them yet; they're just coming in now,' she said late this morning.

Hanley said this is the worst accident she's seen in more than a decade.

'To my memory, it was the early '90s; there was an accident around the South Access (Road) and four or five people killed that's the last time that happened.'

That two-vehicle accident occurred on the Alaska Highway near the Robert Service Way intersection in snowy conditions. The victims, who were all in one car, were from the Carcross area.

Another of the territory's worst-ever traffic accidents that claimed several lives occurred during the summer in the 1999s when a vehicle collided with a motor home on the Alaska Highway east of Haines Junction.

All the victims were visitors to the territory, and it was believed the driver of the smaller vehicle may have fallen asleep and drifted into the motor home's lane.

Another of the Dempster's higher-profile accidents occurred in September 1985, claming the life of former territorial Conservative cabinet minister Andy Philipsen.

The politician, who was then sitting in opposition, was driving a large truck alone when the road gave way beneath him and his vehicle rolled.