A Winthrop man was killed Tuesday in the northern Maine woods when his pickup truck rolled over him as he was unloading it at his camp.

Bruce Morang, 74, died at his camp in T12 R15 about a two-hour drive west of Ashland, according to Maine State Police.

Police, in a news release, said Morang and his wife, Martha Morrill, 66, had just arrived at their camp and were unpacking gear from it when Morang exited the driver’s side of his truck, and it began to roll backward. Morang was knocked to the ground and dragged a short distance before the vehicle then rolled over him and crushed him.

The truck came to a stop near the camp after hitting a fire pit.

At some point, according to police, the vehicle caught fire, apparently when a cigarette Morang had been smoking ignited the inside of the truck, where several oxygen tanks Morang used to help him breathe were located. The fire then destroyed the vehicle.

Morang was taken to a local funeral home in Ashland, and his body was expected to be taken to the state medical examiner’s office so the cause of death could be determined.

Maine State Police and the Maine Warden Service responded to a call reporting the incident, which was made about 5:20 p.m.; and the state fire marshal’s office initially responded until it was determined the fire didn’t cause Morang’s death.


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