mcdude
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Bike Week Crash Near Sawyer Lake
Two airlifted after head-on crash
Two drivers were airlifted by helicopter to Dartmouth-Hitch**** Medical Center after their vehicles collided, head-on, at high speeds along Route 107 in Gilmanton early Monday evening.
"It appears that one of the operators fell asleep at the wheel and crossed the center line," said Gilmanton Police Chief Philip O'Brien of the crash which occurred near Sawyer Lake Road.
Occupants of both vehicles — a gray minivan and green sedan — had to be freed from the twisted wreckage. Firefighters had to use special hydraulic tools to reach the occupant of the minivan.
Authorities did not immediately identify the drivers except to say one was a man and the other a woman.
O'Brien said initial eyewitness accounts from those at the scene indicated the driver fell asleep but he said that was not official as the circumstances surrounding the crash are still under investigation.
Gilmanton Fire Chief Tim Robbins said that, after hearing the injuries described while en route to the scene, he immediately requested that the injured be airlifted by the Dartmouth-Hitch**** Air Rescue Team to the Lebanon hospital.
Robbins said both drivers received multiple major injuries.
Route 107 was closed to traffic for about two hours.
No further information on the drivers' medical conditions was available.
Meanwhile, in Meredith, a man and his daughter were seriously injured in a motorcycle collision.
Police say Raymond Leslie, 49, of 403 Governor Wentworth Highway in Tuftonboro was westbound on a 1983 Harley- Davidson motorcycle on Route 25 with his 13-year-old daughter. A 1998 Oldsmobile Aurora driven by 83-year-old Gilda Keenan of 5 Emily Circle in Meredith was traveling east and made a left turn into Meredith Bay Drive, striking right corner of the motorcycle with the rear tire.
The motorcycle spilled to the ground with Leslie and his daughter falling off.
The two were transported to Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia. Leslie subsequently was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitch**** Medical Center with a head injury. The girl remained at Lakes Region with a possible fractured hip.
Keenan was uninjured in the crash.
The Meredith Police Department responded to the scene with the Meredith Fire Department, the Center Harbor Police Department, Stewart's Ambulance, and Harper's Towing.
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6/16/2007, 9:42 am
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