Several people were taken to the hospital after a motor vehicle crash shut down lanes on both sides of Interstate 95 in Ogunquit for about an hour Monday morning.
The driver of a white commercial van traveling north lost control on wet pavement and rolled over in the median near mile marker 14 shortly after 8 a.m., Maine State Police said in a statement Monday. Police identified the driver as Victor Miguel Cedillo Merchan, 39, of Brockton, Massachusetts. He was not injured.
When the van rolled, it scattered roofing nails, construction equipment and power tools into three southbound lanes, police said. The driver of a white Honda traveling southbound sustained minor injuries when she hit the debris, disabling her vehicle and deploying its airbags.
The Wells Fire Department responded to the crash, which occurred after a “brief rain shower,” to find two damaged vehicles, one on either side of the interstate: one that was near the median and another on the northbound side that “appeared to have hit the middle guardrail.”
The van had four passengers, three of whom weren’t wearing seat belts and were taken to Portsmouth Regional Hospital with serious, but not life-threatening injuries, state police said, noting that “speed and erratic operation appear to be factors in the crash.”
The Maine Turnpike Authority issued an alert about the crash when it occurred around 8:15 a.m. Various lane closures on both sides of the interstate between Exit 7 in York and Exit 19 in Wells slowed and stopped traffic.
As of 9:15 a.m., all lanes were reopened. Maine State Police are investigating the crash.