A boat crashed into a car in north Arkansas, seriously injuring the driver. ( Mammoth Springs Police Chief Michael Davis )

A boat came loose from a pickup that was hauling it Saturday in north Arkansas before crashing into an oncoming car, pinning the driver inside for a time, authorities said.

It happened about 5:30 p.m. on U.S. 63 in Mammoth Spring.

The driver of the car that was hit by the boat, 39-year-old Arthur Dwayne Jones of Holden, Mo., was flown to a hospital in Springfield, Mo., with serious injuries, Mammoth Spring Police Chief Michael Davis said.

Davis said the boat was being towed by a Ford F-350 in a construction zone when something caused the vessel to come loose. The boat then veered into oncoming traffic, where it collided head-on with a Mazda CX-9.

It took crews some time to free Jones from the wreckage before he could be flown to the hospital, Davis said.

"We got him out," Davis said, "but it was a very serious wreck."

Four other people in the Mazda — one adult and three minors — were not injured.

The highway was shut down for several hours.