A man and a woman are dead following following a two-vehicle crash Friday night on Riverside Drive in Vassalboro.

The Kennebec County Sheriff”s Office investigated the crash, according to Stephen H. McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, who said Sunday he was not issued any information about the incident and that State Police had no role in it.

“I’m hearing double fatal, yes,” he said.

Multiple calls and emails to the Sheriff’s Office were not returned Saturday and Sunday, but Walker Thompson, deputy chief of the Vassalboro Fire Department, said Sunday it was a head-on crash that occurred at about 9:30 p.m. Friday.

“When we got there, one person was pronounced dead at the scene and one was pronounced dead later on,” Thompson said. “It was a head-on accident. A gentleman traveling south crossed over the center line and hit a female, head-on, traveling north.

“It was pretty devastating, really. We requested LifeFlight, but due to weather conditions, LifeFlight was not flying. We called in Augusta Fire and Rescue because there was heavy entrapment.”

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Thompson said the woman who later died was driving a Subaru sport utility vehicle and the man was driving a Jeep Liberty. He said he did not recognize them and he did not know their names or ages. That information would have to come from the Sheriff’s Office, he said.

Thompson said both vehicles were destroyed. He also said he did not know the cause of the crash. He noted the state Department of Transportation was out treating the roads when the call about the crash came in but he did not know if road conditions played a role.

The crash occurred about 200 feet south of the Riverside Fire Station, according to Thompson.

Former Maine Sen. Libby Mitchell,  who lives on Riverside Drive, also called U.S. Route 201, said in a telephone call Sunday she was shaken by the crash, which occurred at the end of her driveway.

“The glass shards are deep into my driveway — that’s how close it was,” Mitchell said. “It was just horrific.”

Mitchell said the accident occurred about two minutes before she returned home Friday night after seeing “The Nutcracker.” There was black ice on the roadway, where the speed limit is 55 mph, she said.

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“Both cars were there,” she said. “It was everyday folks trying to help. Somebody was killed, for sure. They are saying ‘double fatal.’ The impact was so strong.”

Mitchell said emergency crews remained at the scene until after midnight.

She said it was disconcerting the news coverage of the crash was so scarce, as neighbors and others are worried about the families of those affected.

“A lot of people are very concerned,” she said.

 

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