ANDOVER – A critically-injured Andover woman was airlifted to a Lewiston hospital Tuesday morning after her sliding minivan was broadsided by a pickup truck on Route 5 in Andover, police said.
Sarah Dingman, 59, who suffered chest and safety belt-related injuries, had to be extricated from her crushed 1994 Plymouth Voyager by Andover firefighters using hydraulic tools, said Oxford County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Halacy.
According to a Central Maine Medical Center spokeswoman, Dingman was listed in critical condition late Tuesday night.
The wreck, which shut down Route 5 for about two hours, happened about 11:10 a.m. at Baily Road. A LifeFlight helicopter landed near the wreckage and a Med-Care Ambulance in which Dingman lay on a stretcher.
Several concerned family members followed the stretcher to the helicopter when she was placed inside.
Halacy said Dingman was driving north around a corner when she lost control in slush covering the road. The minivan skidded sideways, crossing the centerline and into the path of a 1987 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Otis Morton, 74, of Andover. He was not injured.
“She came right up sideways at me. I’m lucky I had the big bumper on there,” Morton said of the wreck and Dingman, who is also his neighbor.
The impact sheared off the van’s rear tire and crushed the rear passenger section, trapping Dingman in the driver’s seat, Andover Fire Chief Ken Dixon said.
“The whole right side of the van had been sheared away, the left side was crushed and the front door was into the back door, but her little space was intact,” he said.
“She took severe impact to her chest from the steering wheel. We couldn’t get to her without hydraulics,” Dixon added.
The steering wheel air bag did not deploy because the van was struck a glancing blow on the side.
“She was damn lucky she didn’t have anybody in the back seat. It took a hell of a beating,” Rumford Fire Deputy Chief Scott Holmes said.
Dixon said he called in Rumford Rescue for its heavy-duty hydraulic equipment in case Andover firefighters couldn’t free Dingman with their new extrication equipment.
The totaled minivan, which sustained an estimated $15,000 damage, came to rest right side up in the snow; the totaled truck stopped in its lane, its passenger-side front tire shredded and undercarriage parts lying on the road.
Firefighters diverted traffic around Baily Road until the helicopter arrived at 12:05 p.m., then resumed when it flew off 10 minutes later.
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