ORONO – Two people were hospitalized, one of them with critical injuries, after an automobile accident at the intersection of Forest and Stillwater avenues late Tuesday afternoon.

Peter Haines, 29, the driver of a Mazda car, and his passenger, Heather Bailey, 18, were taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor to be treated for injuries suffered in the accident. Neither was wearing a seat belt, Orono police Sgt. Scott Scripture said.

Debora Thompson, 47, of Carmel was headed north on Stillwater Avenue toward Interstate 95 in a Jeep Grand Cherokee when Haines, driving in the opposite direction, turned left, cutting in front of Thompson’s SUV, Scripture said.

Orono firefighters and rescue workers used an extrication tool to remove Bailey from inside the Mazda, said Orono police Sgt. Scott Wilcox. The passenger side of the Mazda was heavily crumpled from the impact and the car was facing the center of the road, its rear bumper up against a snowbank. The front license plate from the Jeep lay nearby.

Thompson was wearing a seat belt and was seen walking around after the accident.

The accident was severe enough that authorities called in a state police accident reconstructionist from Augusta to determine what led to the crash.

Shortly after the accident occurred, traffic heading north along Stillwater Avenue was blocked off at the Kelly Road. When traffic was restored, it was reduced to one lane near the intersection of Stillwater and Forest avenues.

A police cruiser also blocked off one lane of Forest Avenue, protecting the accident scene and one of the damaged vehicles that came to rest nearby.

Both vehicles were just south of the intersection.

The Jeep’s engine compartment was exposed, the front fender ripped away exposing the radiator.

Motorists called in to report the accident that occurred shortly before 5 p.m. and an officer from Indian Island stopped and radioed in that one of the people was unconscious.

The same intersection was the scene of a fatal accident nearly eight years ago when a dump truck crashed into a car, killing two women.