BANGOR – A local man in his 20s is dead after crashing his Suzuki motorcycle on Washington Street at around 9:40 p.m. Wednesday.

His female passenger, also in her 20s and identified as a friend, was transported to Eastern Maine Medical Center. She was in obvious pain and holding her stomach before being transported, Bangor Police Sgt. Ed Potter said.

At the time of the crash, two motorcycles were riding together toward the hospital on Washington Street near where it joins Hancock Street. The silver Suzuki motorcycle was behind a newer black Honda and struck the curb on the right side of Washington Street, but police are not sure how it happened, the officer said.

“The nose of the bike actually nose-dived and hit” the curb, Potter said.

The impact with the curb apparently caused the driver and passenger to be thrown from the motorcycle into a ditch between the road and the adjacent railroad tracks, the sargeant said.

The man driving the Suzuki never got up and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Potter. His body was covered with a white sheet while police investigated. That section of Washington Street remained closed to traffic until at least midnight.

All three people involved are from Bangor, but their identities were not released by police, pending notification of relatives and because the cause of the accident is still under investigation.

Neither of the motorcycle drivers was wearing a helmet. Potter was not sure if the female passenger had one on.

The lone rider on the Honda, also in his 20s, laid down his bike at the same time or soon after his friend crashed, Potter said. The man was walking around the accident scene with torn pants and a scraped arm, but he did not need medical attention, Potter said.

The motorcycles both lay on their right sides in the roadway about 50-feet apart.

A local man who heard tires screeching and ran to the scene said he saw the female talking when rescue personnel loaded her into an ambulance.

Five officers were seen with flashlights looking for evidence near the railroad tracks, but Potter said “there is a lot of debris over there.” They also took photos of the area.

An accident reconstruction team was called to the scene.