BRUNSWICK, Maine — Four cars, a box truck and a Breeze bus carrying passengers from Brunswick to Portland collided in two separate crashes that tied up southbound traffic on Interstate 295 for about two hours Wednesday afternoon.
At approximately 4 p.m., Maine State Police went to I-295 southbound just south of the Exit 28 ramp where the drivers of a box truck, an SUV and another car had been blinded by the sun and crashed, trooper Michael Smith said Wednesday night.
While no one was injured in that crash, shortly after it occurred a Breeze bus driven by Richard Otis, 72, of Falmouth crashed into the back of small pickup truck, which pushed that truck into another car, Smith said.
Otis, who was conscious and awake at the scene, was apparently the most seriously injured, Smith said. He was taken by ambulance to Maine Medical Center for evaluation of broken bones and chest injuries.
Stephen Tracy, 60, of Portland, a passenger on the bus, was also taken to Maine Medical Center with rib injuries and a head laceration.
Smith said traffic was reduced to a single lane and “was pretty messed up for a while” before clearing after about two hours.
No additional information was immediately available Wednesday night.