FARMINGTON — A Connecticut girl died Wednesday morning and three other people were injured after a tractor-trailer struck the rear of a mini-van she was riding in on Routes 2 and 27, near the intersection of Route 4, police said.

Tess Meisel, 12, of Westport, Conn., who was seated in the rear of the van, died at the scene. Two other girls, Samantha Hollender, 15, and Samantha Gaivao, 13, also of Connecticut and riding in the Y camp-owned van, were injured, Maine Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said in a news release.

Meisel, Hollander, Gaivao and van driver Charles Powell, 23, of Colebrook, Conn., were on their way from Acadia National Park to a park in Vermont, McCausland said.

Charles Willey, 53, of Dexter, driving a truck for Linkletter Trucking of Athens, was hauling a load of sawdust when the truck’s trailer struck the rear of the van owned by a Y camp in Colebrook, McCausland said.

The truck had just made the turn from Routes 2 and 4 onto Routes 2 and 27 to head south when the accident occurred. The van was northbound on Routes 2 and 27 and was nearing the traffic signal at the intersection.

The truck overturned after the crash and spilled the trailer’s contents onto the side of the road.

Meisel, the daughter of Gary and Suzanne Meisel and sister of Jacob of Westport, Conn., would have entered the eighth grade at Coleytown Middle School for the fall term, according to the website WestportPatch.com. Meisel was involved in a student government group called Coleytown Services Board, according to the school website.

Meisel, who had written a global warming blog, was interviewed in 2009 by Liz Mitchell of WestportPatch.com. She told Mitchell then that she started the blog to educate people about threats to the Earth and what they can do to help. 

“I have always been an aware person about the climate and how it’s changing a lot,” Meisel told WestportPatch.com. “I’ve also always had a big heart for penguins and polar bears.”

In May 2010, while a sixth-grader at Coleytown Elementary School, Meisel competed in Connecticut’s Invention Convention, held at the University of Connecticut campus at Storrs, and won the top environmental prize for her environmentally friendly reusable pizza box invention. Meisel, who also played the violin, designed the box hoping to save some of the trees cut annually and used to manufacture 2 billion single-box pizza boxes every year in the United States, according to WestportPatch.com.

Gaivao and Willey were treated and released from Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, spokeswoman Jill Gray said. She said Hollender was treated at FMH and then transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland on Wednesday afternoon.

McCausland said the injuries were not life-threatening.

Farmington Fire Rescue Department and Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies assisted at the scene and rerouted traffic for several hours.

A team of state troopers, working with Farmington police, are investigating the crash, including members of the State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. A representative from the District Attorney’s Office was also at the crash site, McCausland said.

Westport First Selectman Gordon Joseloff issued a statement late Wednesday afternoon regarding the news, according to The Daily Westport newspaper:

“On behalf of all Westporters, I offer my deepest condolences to the Meisel family whose daughter Tess died today in a tragic accident in Farmington, Maine, where she was attending summer camp.

“Even at the young age of 12, the Coleytown Middle School student had made her mark as an environmentalist, winning awards and admiration for her devotion to promoting everything green.

“We also wish a speedy recovery for her Westport friend, Samantha Galvao, 13, who was injured in the accident, as well as two other youngsters who were also reported injured.

“All Westporters share this tragic loss, and I am grateful to those who have already gathered to offer their support to both families at this time of need.”

NOTE: Story was modified to reflect the correct relationship between brother and sister.

dperry@sunjournal.com

Managing Editor/Days Judith Meyer contributed to this article.