State Police say two men were killed and two others injured Wednesday morning in the collision of a dump truck and a pickup on Route 9 in Durham.
The crash was reported at 7:15 a.m. Sgt. Kyle Tilsley said at the scene that a crash reconstruction is underway.
According to Steve McCausland of the Maine Department of Public Safety, troopers said the pickup ran into the side the dump truck as the pickup exited Rabbit Road. The pickup caught fire after the collision and passersby pulled the three men from inside the burning truck.
Dead are 21-year-old Malakai Cawood from Limington and 24-year-old Brendon Harthorn of Cornish.
The third man inside the pickup was airlifted by LifeFlight to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. Jeremy Reardon, 35, of Buxton, is being treated for multiple injuries. The three were employees of Plowman Construction of Gorham and headed to a job site in the area.
The dump truck driver, Clifton Larrabee, 42, of Durham was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland. The dump truck, which was empty and overturned on its side, is owned by Larrabee Construction of Durham.
According to hospital representatives, both Reardon and Larrabee are in fair condition.
Troopers say they need to conduct more interviews before the driver of the pickup, a 2003 Chevrolet, can be determined.
Durham Fire Chief Bill St. Michel said firefighters arrived on what was a very intense scene for a short period of time. While en route he had requested additional resources from Freeport and once on scene, additional rescues which weren’t needed in the end.
Upon arrival, the occupants were out of the pickup truck, which was still ablaze.
Larrabee, the driver of the dump truck, has been a member of Durham’s volunteer fire department for quite some time, St. Michel said. He was still in the overturned vehicle and had to be extricated.
“In this particular situation, we will probably monitor members and personnel very closely,” he said. “A lot of times, because of the intensity of the situation, the impact doesn’t happen immediately.”
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