CAMDEN — Tracy Harford said he feels very lucky to have not been seriously injured when a bucket loader he was operating as part of a snow removal process tumbled down a steep riverbank Friday afternoon.

Harford was taken to Pen Bay Medical Center but on Saturday he was back at the scene of the accident along the Megunticook River with only a few bumps and bruises. A crane was brought in to help pull out the 30,000-pound loader that Camden had been renting for snow removal.

The accident occurred at about 2:30 p.m. Friday when he was pushing snow and the vehicle lurched and got on a section of a boardwalk which then collapsed, Camden police Officer Allen Weaver said. The loader tumbled down the bank of at least 15 feet and landed on its wheels. Harford was thrown from the vehicle near the river.

The amount of damage to the loader was not yet known. There was no fuel spill from the accident.

“I feel lucky, very lucky,” Harford said. “The town has been very good to me. I want to thank the people who came to my aid.”

Harford is employed with the town’s public works department.