CANTON — A Dixfield couple was killed Thursday when their station wagon collided head-on with a loaded potato truck on Route 108.

Howard Child and his wife, Carrie Child, were killed at about 1 p.m. when their Subaru Legacy veered into the path of a dump truck in front of the Victorian Villa Rehabilitation and Living Center in Canton village, police said.

The Childs were headed west toward Dixfield. Howard Child, who was driving the car, was 73 years old; his wife was 75.

Victorian Villa Administrator Mark Jacobs said nursing home employees went outside as soon as they heard the crash to help until ambulances arrived. But, he said, there was nothing they could do to help the couple.

The driver of the International dump truck, James Bagley, 66, of St. Albans, was not injured, although he was taken to Rumford Hospital after the accident.

Jacobs said the Childs’ car appeared to have “swerved into the lane of the truck” before crashing head-on and sliding under the front end.

The International dump truck is owned by Crane Brothers of Canton, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The area where the crash occurred was on a slight curve in a 35-mph zone. Police closed a portion of the road and diverted traffic around the scene while Maine State Police reconstructed the accident.

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