PROSPECT (AP) – Two brothers from Winterport were killed in separate highway crashes less than seven hours apart in this midcoast town.

Adrian Basford, 52, lost his life around 5:30 p.m. Saturday when his motorcycle went out of control on U.S. 1A, crossed a driveway and struck an embankment. State police said Basford was traveling too fast while rounding a curve.

His brother, Wallace Basford, 48, was killed just before midnight in a single-vehicle crash on U.S. 1 near the Penobscot Narrows Bridge.

Basford’s van failed to negotiate a left turn as he was coming off the new bridge and slammed into a ledge wall, the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department said. Basford, who was alone in the van, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Basford had gotten word of his brother’s death and spoke to police at the scene. He was reported to have been drinking later that night in Bucksport.

said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.

A blood-alcohol test, which is standard in motor vehicle fatalities, will determine whether alcohol was a factor in the crash.

Trooper Stephen Hills, who investigated the motorcycle accident, said Basford told him that the brothers’ father had died recently.

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