LEWISTON – The driver in a Pond Road accident Saturday that killed his wife remained at Central Maine Medical Center on Wednesday.

The family of Norman Martel, 80, of Lewiston requested that no information be released about his condition.

The accident occurred Saturday afternoon when Martel’s car crashed into a tree. His wife, Estelle Martel, 74, died shortly after the crash, according to investigators.

The cause of the wreck was unknown. Indications were that the car had been traveling on a straight section of the road when it suddenly veered off the roadway and struck a tree, police said, leaving the couple trapped within the wreckage.

Police closed off that section of the road for three hours following the 5 p.m. wreck as they reconstructed the crash.

One couple, Richard and Christine Charest, heard the crash and rushed over with five-gallon buckets of water to douse flames coming from the hood of the car.

“We were afraid it might blow up and they were stuck in there,” said Richard Charest, who lives at 87 Pond Road, just feet from where the vehicle came to rest on its side.

Christine’s mother, a retired nurse, said she heard the couple speaking and moaning and took the woman’s pulse. She was in the passenger side and appeared to have taken the brunt of the impact into the tree.

The area where the accident occurred is a 25-mph zone, and the road inclines slightly.

Police said no witnesses have indicated that an animal or other vehicle was involved. The accident remains under investigation.