Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS A DHART crew prepares to bring aboard Myles Leclerc, the Greenville man seriously injured Saturday evening in a snowmobile crash on Lake Potanipo in Brookline. (Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS)

Myles Leclerc, 25, was operating the snowmobile “at what witnesses described as a high rate of speed, when he lost control of the machine and was ejected,” according to

state Fish and Game officials, who were called to the scene along with Brookline police, firefighters and medical personnel.

The incident occurred at about 5:30 p.m. on Lake Potanipo, a roughly 170-acre lake at the fork of Mason Road and Route 13 that is popular in the winter with snowmobilers, skaters and ice fishermen.

Brookline Fire Department personnel responded with a UTV, sled and other equipment. The Brookline Ambulance Service requested the medical helicopter after assessing Leclerc’s condition.

Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS

The DHART helicopter met the ambulance at the landing zone set up in the parking lot of Sports Stop on Route 13, where Leclerc was transferred to the helicopter.

His condition wasn’t immediately known.

Indications were that Leclerc was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

A Fish and Game spokesman said all aspects of the incident remain under investigation. The department also urges snowmobilers and other winter recreation enthusiasts to to go www.ride.nh.gov for safety information.

The crash was the state’s second within five days involving a snowmobile.

Early last week, Ethan O’Neil, 30, of Boscawen, suffered serious injuries when, Fish and Game officials said, he was unable to identify the shoreline of Lake Winnepocket, in the town of Webster, while approaching and crashed onshore, causing what officials called “catastrophic damage” to his snowmobile.

Webster Fire Rescue and police were joined at the scene by Salisbury Fire and Rescue, which utilized the department’s UTV to access the crash scene and extricate O’Neil, Fish and Game officials said.

A Hopkinton ambulance transported him to a local hospital.

Officials said it appears that the vehicle’s speed was too fast for the existing conditions, and was the primary contributing factor to the crash.

–JEFFREY HASTINGS