Brothers survive rollover

SMYRNA — Two Presque Isle brothers escaped serious injury Thursday morning when the tractor-trailer in which they were riding rolled over on Interstate 95.

Troy Ayotte, 26, and his brother James, 27, received only cuts and bruises when their 1987 White tractor-trailer rolled over at about 2:30 a.m. three miles north of the Oakfield interchange in the southbound lane, according to Trooper Carroll Crandall of state police Troop F in Houlton.

The accident was reported by a motorist who was traveling behind the truck.

Ayotte, who was driving, told Crandall that it was very foggy and in the fog he thought he saw a moose on the right side of the highway. When he swerved to avoid hitting the moose, the truck’s load shifted, and Ayotte was unable to regain control of the truck. The truck went down the embankment into the median strip and rolled over.

The brothers had left the J.M. Huber Corp. mill in Easton earlier with the load of wafer board. There was no estimate of the value of or damage to the cargo, which was strewn over a large area in the median strip.

Crandall said the tractor unit, which was owned jointly by the brothers, was destroyed. The trailer unit received only minor damage, he said.