(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) Merrimack police prepare to begin their investigation into the crash involving the pickup truck and right and a motorcycle, the operator of which sustained fatal injuries.

MERRIMACK — Police continue to investigate the circumstances of the Saturday afternoon crash in which the operator of a motorcycle sustained fatal injuries when the cycle collided with a pickup truck on Back River Road.

Police, firefighters and ambulance personnel were called at about 2:15 p.m. to Back River Road for a report of a crash involving a full-size pickup and a motorcycle,, and a man lying unresponsive in the road.

The motorcyclist had yet to be identified as of Sunday afternoon, but he was believed to be in his 30s.

The driver of the pickup truck was a woman who is also unidentified. She was visibly upset while speaking with police and medical personnel, who conducted a medical evaluation. She declined transport to the hospital.

Based on information police and firefighters received while enroute to the scene, they requested the availability of a DHART medical helicopter. That request was canceled after it was determined that the motorcyclist was deceased at the scene.

Merrimack police, with the assistance of officers from Bedford, shut down a section of Back River Road for several hours while the scene was investigated.

The crash was the third that Merrimack Fire Rescue responded to within three hours Saturday afternoon.

–JEFFREY HASTINGS