Updated - LifeFlight transporting man with serious injuries sustained in earlier Madawaska snowmobile accident

MADAWASKA - Wednesday afternoon, LifeFlight transported 52-year-old Birandra Patel, visiting from New Jersey, from the Northern Maine Regional Airport in Frenchville to Eastern Maine Medical Center with serious injuries he sustained in a snowmobile accident in the town of Madawaska.

Madawaska Police confirmed a snowmobile accident occurred shortly after noon Wednesday on a trail passing through the parking lot of Martin's Motel on Main Street.

Persons at the scene reported that Patel was riding with a group of friends, one from Maine and one from New York, when something went wrong, and he slammed into a snow bank in the back of the Martin's Motel parking lot.

The man and his snowmobile flew over the bank. John Macdonald, spokesperson for the Maine Warden's Service, said that because of the speed at which the snowmobile was traveling when it impacted with the bank, the machine and driver flew quite a distance in the air before landing in the paved driveway leading to a home that Martin Lavoie owns.

Emergency responders first transported the man to the Edmundston Regional Hospital. At approximately 2:30 p.m., an ambulance transported the man to the Frenchville Airport where he met his LifeFlight tha flew him to Eastern Maine Medical Center. Macdonald said the man sustained head trauma. His condition was unknown as of Thursday afternoon.

Macdonald reported that crashes resulting in injuries were common, but this particular circumstance did have an unusual element.

"It wasn't a typical trail crash because it happened in a more urban area," said Macdonald.

As part of the investigation, the warden's service is conducting a "vehicle autopsy" to determine whether there was a mechanical malfunction element involved in the accident.

State Game Warden Ryan Fitzpatrick is investigating the cause of the crash, with Game Warden Gary Sibley, and Sargeant Burward Humphrey. Spokesperson for the Maine Warden's Service John Macdonald said that the Madawaska Police Department is also assisting with the investigation.