DIXFIELD – An Irving Forest Products worker who lost part of his right hand early Tuesday in a Dixfield lumber mill accident was in stable condition Wednesday afternoon at a Boston hospital, a mill spokeswoman said.

The 24-year-old man was recovering after at least 18 hours of surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, according to J.D. Irving spokeswoman Mary Keith in St. John, New Brunswick. She declined to release the worker’s name or hometown.

“At the family’s request, his name will not be released,” Keith said by phone from Canada. “We’ve also been asked to refrain from providing the (health) status of the individual.”

Inquiries on Wednesday at the Irving Forest Products Inc. mill at 44 Hall Hill Road and with management were referred to Keith.

The accident happened at 3:10 a.m. Tuesday. The maintenance employee of six years was working in the Dillon boiler area with two others. An auger and conveyor belt there receive wood chips, which are byproducts of the mill.

Keith said the belt feeds chips into the boiler, fueling it to generate steam, which is used in the mill process.

The two workers and three more who came to the man’s aid extricated him from the equipment. The man was taken by Med-Care Ambulance to Rumford Hospital and flown from there to Boston by medical helicopter.

Med-Care Director Dean Milligan said the man suffered a partial amputation: four fingers and the thumb, all of which were recovered.

Keith said the area where the accident happened was shut down for two hours Tuesday, then resumed operation. She declined to release more details, citing the company’s pending investigation.

An official with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Augusta said by phone Wednesday morning that they’d just learned about the accident and would be sending an inspector today to investigate the accident.