One person has died and three others were taken to the hospital with injuries after a two-vehicle crash Monday in Gorham that ended with a minivan becoming submerged and coming to rest upside-down in a pond, officials said.
The crash took place near 70 Brackett Road around 5 p.m., Gorham Deputy Police Chief Michael Nault said in a statement Monday night.
A Dodge Grand Caravan minivan driven by a 34-year-old Westbrook man “ended up upside down fully submerged in a fire pond with zero visibility,” Nault said, after a crash involving a Honda CR-V driven by an 82-year-old Saco woman.
The minivan driver was able to get out, but two passengers in the vehicle were trapped, Nault said.
Bystanders jumped into the water to assist before first responders arrived, Nault said, but Gorham Fire Department personnel dove in and extricated the two passengers.
The two passengers were transported to Maine Medical Center in serious condition.
One of the passengers, 68-year-old Joyce Provencher of Westbrook, later died of her injuries, Nault said in an update Tuesday morning. The other passenger, a 23-year-old Gorham man, was still in serious condition Tuesday, according to a Maine Medical Center spokesperson.
The CR-V driver and an 83-year-old passenger were transported to Maine Medical Center with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, Nault said. The passenger was treated and released, but the hospital had no information available Tuesday about the driver.
The Grand Caravan driver was treated and released, according to the hospital spokesperson.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
First responders from Westbrook, Windham, Buxton, Scarborough and Portland responded to the crash, as well as the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team and University of Southern Maine Police.