A chaotic scene unfolded on a metro highway in Minnesota when a semitrailer truck carrying 50 hogs overturned, resulting in the pigs running loose and causing a prolonged shutdown.
The incident occurred on Interstate 694, leading to significant traffic congestion during the morning rush hour.
State troopers were caught on camera attempting to corral the escaped pigs as they darted through the traffic, as reported by the Star Tribune.
The truck overturned around 7:35 a.m., causing a traffic backup of over a mile, as Minnesota Department of Transportation cameras observed.
Fortunately, the truck driver emerged unscathed, but tragically, ten pigs lost their lives in the accident.
Efforts were made to round up the loose pigs, some of which sustained injuries during the incident.
An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the semitrailer’s tip-over while navigating the curved section where I-694 merges with northbound Interstate 35E.
This incident echoes a similar occurrence in a more rural part of the state nearly five years ago, when over 20 pigs spilled onto the roads after a semi-truck overturned near a highway interchange close to Mankato.
About 90 pigs were in the trailer during that incident, resulting in some casualties, while the driver sustained minor injuries.
In a separate incident last year on a Pennsylvania highway, a truck towing a trailer carrying 100 monkeys collided with a dump truck, leading to the escape of several monkeys.
The truck was en route to a laboratory at the time of the accident. Fortunately, both drivers emerged unharmed from the collision.
