The lifeboat crew recovered a woman who was in one of the cars trapped in the rubble; she was confirmed as deceased upon arrival at the lifeboat base. Her husband suffered "serious injuries", although they were not thought to be life threatening he was airlifted by the RAF to Ysbyty Gwynedd hospital in Bangor.

It was initially thought that other people may have been trapped in the wreckage, but a search involving rescue dogs revealed that everyone was accounted for.

A spokesman for Holyhead Coastguard said staff was using heavy digging equipment to sort through the rubble in a bid to beat the incoming tide.

The slip happened at just after 1130 GMT at Lon y Traeth, on a long stretch of road, which winds its way down to the beach.

A spokeswoman for Gwynedd Council later said torrential rain over the last few months was thought to have caused the landslide in the cliff.

"The problem is with all the coast in that particular area which is of clay and sand so you can imagine the effect of tremendous rain over the last few months," she said.

There had been another, smaller slide in the same area over the Christmas period.

Attempts to recover vehicles had to be abandoned on Tuesday evening and it is thought efforts to recover the seven vehicles swept away in the landslip may get under way today.

The cliff is thought to have been weakened by recent heavy rain.

Two helicopters, a lifeboat and three coastguard teams took part in the rescue effort.

Emergency teams worked frantically to get to the middle-aged couple, but Mrs. Race, 58, was pronounced dead on arrival at the lifeboat station at nearby Porthdinllaen.

Mr Race, 63, of Tudweilog, near Nefyn, was airlifted to hospital in Bangor with serious injuries, although a police spokesman said they were not thought to be "life-threatening".