A single-vehicle crash on the turnpike near the Auburn exit tied up traffic and sent a passenger to the hospital as Maine closed out a Labor Day weekend strewn with road accidents and fatalities.

The turnpike’s southbound passing lane was closed for about an hour between miles 73 and 74 after a vehicle driven by Bryan Londa, 19, of Dover, N.H., swerved off the road to avoid debris and then overcorrected. After returning to the roadway, the front of the vehicle hit the guardrail, causing the rear of the car to spin and strike the guardrail again, State Trooper Richard Maguire said.

Rinald Palit, 18, of Dover, N.H., was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston with injuries to his hand, Maguire said. Londa and two other passengers in the vehicle were not injured, he said.

Londa, who does not have auto insurance — it isn’t required by New Hampshire state law — will be forced to pay for the damage to the median, which Maguire called “significant.”

“There’s a purpose for the insurance,” Maguire said. “You can pay a little now, or you can pay a lot later.”

The turnpike accident was one of the latest, but not the most serious, of a rash of holiday weekend accidents that killed five and injured several others across Maine.

Also on Monday, a tractor hauling a trailer of logs struck and killed a horse, then rolled over and spilled its cargo in Smyrna, according to an article posted on the Bangor Daily News’ website Monday afternoon. A second car was unable to stop and hit the logs in the roadway, resulting in minor injuries to its driver, 62 year-old Wayne McGary of Houlton, the article said.

The horse had escaped from a nearby pasture and died on the scene, the article said. The driver of the destroyed tractor, Davd Tarr, 29, of Oakland, also suffered cuts to his face in the 3:30 a.m. accident.

A string of accidents on Saturday and Sunday resulted in five deaths and several more serious injuries.

On Sunday afternoon, a motorcyclist and his passenger, both in their 70s, suffered broken legs when they ran a stop sign and were hit by a car in Machias, according to an article in the Bangor Daily News.

At about the same time, a 12-year-old boy was hospitalized with severe injuries after being struck by an SUV in Dedham, the Bangor newspaper said.

Nicholas Borodko, of Dedham, apparently ran into the road just before being hit by the 2004 Ford Explorer of Frederick Smith, 55, also of Dedham. The boy suffered a laceration to his head, swelling of the brain and lungs, a fractured bone in his back, and swelling of the knees and elbows, according to a police report filed by Hancock County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Sargent.

Borodko was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and while in serious condition, his injuries were not considered life-threatening, Sargent told the Bangor Daily News.

Sunday was also the deadliest day of the weekend, as a Florida woman was found dead in a car that had crashed into the ocean in Lamoine, near Mount Desert Isle, a body was found in a burning car in Turner, and a 19-year-old man died after being ejected from a pickup truck that rolled over on Route 43 in Hudson.

Police are still investigating the crash in Turner and had not released the name of the victim as of Monday night.

Joann Boardman, 48, of Palm Coast, Fla., was discovered early Sunday morning after someone reported a vehicle’s roof visible in the ocean in Lamoine, a state police statement said.

“It appears that Boardman had just left a family wedding reception to return to her hotel in Hancock but headed in the wrong direction,” the statement said. “Boardman was not familiar with the area of the crash where the paved road ends at the ocean’s edge.”

On Saturday afternoon, Chris Meier, 36, of Yarmouth, was killed when his pickup truck went off the road, hit a tree stump, and flipped over, a Bangor Daily News article said.

One man was killed and three people were injured in a two-car accident in Mars Hill on Saturday evening. William Barton, 51, of Mars Hill was charged on Sunday with operating under the influence and possession of methamphetamine after his vehicle hit another head-on, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Nathan York, 51, of Medway, was killed in the accident, and his son, Jerome Young, 21, brother, Herb Young, 52, of Mars Hill, and Barton were injured in the accident.

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