HARRISON – Authorities searched Long Lake on Sunday after a Saturday night collision between two boats may have left people missing.

The accident occurred shortly after 9 p.m. when a boat with two people aboard struck a smaller boat on the pond, then ran aground off Bear Point Road.

“Right now, we are approaching this as a search,” said Warden Tim Spahr of the Maine Warden Service.

Wardens said they expect to release more information during a briefing slated for 10:30 this morning.

The service is investigating the accident along with Maine State Police. The Oxford County Sheriff’s Office and Harrison, Naples, and Bridgton fire departments responded to initial reports of the accident.

An emergency responder staging off Bear Point Road said two people were believed to be missing. While the road was closed, people who said they were relatives of the missing people were allowed access.

Spahr said responders found a damaged 15-foot boat and debris in the lake after arriving at the scene. What was left of the boat, which Spahr said appeared to be a motorboat, was taken to the shore. Half-sunk, it showed heavy damage.

“It was hit pretty hard,” said Spahr.

Spahr said he he had no confirmation of people missing from the accident, but added that equipment had been found in the boat. That could indicate that someone was aboard the boat at the time of the collision, Spahr said.

Or, he noted, “It could have just been a boat that got loose from its mooring,” he said.

Late Saturday night, a Coast Guard helicopter with infrared imaging was brought in from Massachusetts to assist in a search of the lake.

Divers and boats from the Warden Service searched islands and the shoreline on Sunday looking for injured or stranded boaters or victims. A Cessna floatplane was also conducting aerial an search.

A team from the Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Services was also present at the scene.

The boat that ran aground was “nearly several hundred feet” inland, according to Spahr, meaning it would have hit the shore at a “substantial” speed.

Spahr said reports indicated that the pair of boaters was ejected from the boat. He was unable to say whether they were injured. One report indicted they had landed in trees.

Spahr said he had no information on whether alcohol was involved in the accident.

The Warden Service was treating the site as an “incident scene” with protocol similar to a crime scene.

Spahr said the dive team would halt their search Sunday night and resume again this morning.