GILFORD — A head-on collision between a pickup truck and a sport utility vehicle killed one woman and sent five other people to the hospital, with two of them later airlifted to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon.
The crash occurred shortly after 4 p.m. on a curve near the heavily traveled Lakeshore Road (Route 11) in the vicinity of Ellacoya State Park.
Gilford Police Chief Anthony Bean Burpee said that, just prior to the accident, a male motorist called police to say he was following a westbound pickup truck that was operating erratically and crossing into the other lane on Route 11 near the Alton-Gilford town line. He provided police with a description of the vehicle and its registration number, and officers responded to the area.
At 4:06 p.m., police dispatch began receiving several 911 calls about a serious motor vehicle crash just east of Ellacoya State Park. One of the vehicles in the head-on collision turned out to be the truck that had been driving erratically, according to a press release from the Gilford Police Department.
Police declined to identify the 47-year-old driver of the green 2002 Toyota Tundra, who was taken to Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia with unknown injuries, pending notification of his family, and also did not identify the victims in the other vehicle, a silver 2004 Nissan Murano, for the same reason.
Police said a 20-year-old man was driving the SUV, which also had a 20-year-old woman in the front seat, a 45-year-old woman in the back seat, and 1- and 3-year-old children buckled into car seats in the back. The 20-year-old male driver was taken by ambulance to LRGH, then flown by the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Air Response Team helicopter to Lebanon. The 20-year-old woman also was taken to LRGH but she succumbed to her injuries. The 45-year-old woman was taken directly to the Laconia Airport and was transported by air ambulance to Lebanon.
The two children were evaluated at LRGH but were described as being in stable condition.
Gilford Police Chief Bean Burpee said the car following the SUV was occupied by other members of the same family and after the accident occurred the woman who was driving pulled over to help the crash victims but, in doing so, she apparently forgot to place the vehicle in park and it began rolling backward and crashed into a fence. There were two teenage boys in the back seat, but neither they nor the woman were injured; however, all three went to the hospital for evaluation.
Police and fire officials from Gilford, Laconia, Alton, and Belmont, along with New Hampshire State Police, Marine Patrol, and Stewart's Ambulance, lined the route as traffic was rerouted to avoid what an officer called a potential crime scene.
The Belknap Regional Accident Investigation Team is investigating the crash, The road was closed while they attempted to reconstruct the events leading to the crash.
People gathered near the crash scene discussed how dangerous that section of road is because the curve follows a long, open stretch where people tend to speed.
(1) comment
So sad, I wish them peace.
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