Police continue to investigate Tuesday’s crash on Route 9 in Chelsea that badly injured three people.

Kennebec County Interim Sheriff Ryan Reardon said in a news release that the drivers, Rowe Palmer, 37, of Farmingdale, and Richard Morin, 62, of Randolph, as well as a passenger in Morin’s vehicle, his wife, 50-year-old Monique Morin, had to be cut free from the mangled trucks. All three were taken to area hospitals with injuries, Reardon said.

Firefighters check a pickup truck that collided Monday with another pickup on Route 9 in Chelsea, injuring three people. All the victims had to be extricated from the vehicles, police said, to be treated for injuries. Staff file photo by Andy Molloy

Firefighters check pickup trucks that collided Monday on Route 9 in Chelsea, injuring three people. All the victims had to be extricated from the vehicles, police said, to be treated for injuries. Staff file photo by Andy Molloy

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The crash occurred a little before 6 p.m. as Palmer drove his 1986 Ford pickup truck south on Route 9, which also is known as River Road. Reardon said Palmer’s truck veered off the right side of the road and hit a guard rail. The truck caromed off the rail and crossed into the northbound lane, where it collided head-on with Morin’s 2009 Toyota Tacoma.

Firefighters from Chelsea used extrication tools to remove the three people trapped in the two vehicles, according to the release, freeing them in less than 20 minutes.

Palmer was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta with a broken hand, according to a police report. He and Monique Morin, who also went to MaineGeneral, were listed in fair condition Tuesday afternoon, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Richard Morin was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. Hospital officials did not return a call seeking an update of his condition.

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