NORTH ANSON – A 19-year-old New Portland man was killed instantly Sunday afternoon when he struck a metal gate and was impaled.

Alex Atwood was found in his Ford Ranger pickup truck by his father when he failed to show up at a nearby log yard where the two men had been working.

The log yard is owned by Bacon Veneer, and the access road from Route 201A to the yard is protected by a double-hung metal gate.

Maine State Trooper Sgt. Roderick Charette said the gate had been opened to allow vehicles to pass, but that one side of the gate had come loose and swung into the roadway.

As Atwood headed into the log yard, Charette said, he apparently did not see that the gate had swung partially closed.