9 More Bizarre Truck Spills

1. A 60-Ton Sperm Whale

Getty Images
 Residents of Tainan learned a lesson in whale biology after the decomposing remains of a 60-ton sperm whale exploded on a busy street, showering nearby cars and shops with blood and organs and stopping traffic for hours.

The 56-foot-long whale had been on a truck headed for a necropsy by researchers, when gases from internal decay caused its entrails to explode in the southern city of Tainan.

Residents and shop owners wore masks while trying to clean up the spilt blood and entrails.

"What a stinking mess. This blood and other stuff that blew out on the road is disgusting, and the smell is really awful," a BBC News report quoted one Tainan resident as saying.

The whale had died on Jan. 17 after it beached itself on the southwestern coast of the island.

Researchers at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan said enough of the whale remained to allow for an examination by marine biologists.

Once moved to a nearby nature preserve, the male specimen -- the largest whale ever recorded in Taiwan -- drew the attention of locals because of its large penis, measured at some five feet, the Taipei Times reported.

"More than 100 Tainan city residents, mostly men, have reportedly gone to see the corpse to 'experience' the size of its penis," the newspaper reported.

Are You know?
Why Croatian Jews Boycotted This Year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day
US Ambassador Nikki Haley at UN: 'We're taking names'
Shooting At Quebec City Mosque, 6 Dead


2. 45,000 Pounds of Would-Be Pennies Coat Highway After Delaware Crash 

Getty Images
 It looked like free money all over the highway. But even the most opportunistic of motorists likely passed by without taking any.

Early Thursday morning, a tractor-trailer on Interstate 95 near the Delaware Memorial Bridge hit a highway barrier, flipped over and caught fire, spilling about 45,000 pounds of blank pennies across the northbound lanes, according to the Delaware State Police.

That means about eight million coins covered the roadway. Had they been stamped, they would have been worth about $81,600.

Master Cpl. Jeffrey Hale, a police spokesman, confirmed that the vehicle had been heading to the Philadelphia Mint and that the coins were blank. That means, of course, that they were simply discs of copper-plated zinc that dreamed of being pennies.

The driver, Stefan Marinkovic, 25, of Chicago, sustained minor injuries after veering right and crashing into an impact attenuator before riding onto a highway barrier and flipping over.

The police did not know why the tractor-trailer had gone to the right, but Mr. Marinkovic was able to free himself and was taken to a hospital, the police said. He received a citation for inattentive driving.

Corporal Hale said that he did not believe any of the wayward coins had been picked up by passing drivers, but that he was not sure whether they had all been recovered.

Those that were will be stored until they can be taken to the mint, the police said.

Parts of I-95 North and I-295 East were shut down for more than 13 hours in response to the crash, disrupting many people’s commutes. Some of them took to social media to complain.

A Twitter user named Jordan Naft said that what was typically a 20-minute drive to work was taking him close to an hour and a half because of the crash, which occurred just before 2 a.m.

“Now those delays make cents,” another Twitter user quipped.

Mike White, a spokesman for the United States Mint, said that pennies, which are 97.5 percent zinc and just 2.5 percent copper, weighed 2.5 grams apiece.

After making sure the driver had not been seriously hurt, Jeff Gore, a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the founder of an organization called Citizens to Retire the Penny, said that he liked the idea of the image of hundreds of thousands of blank pennies on the road, as it illustrated the wasteful practice of continuing to produce the coins.

“We all know that nobody picks up actual pennies off the sidewalk,” he said. “But I imagine if you have a hundred thousand penny blanks on the highway, someone’s going to have to do that.”

“Even if the truck had made it there without incident, they would still be doing something that doesn’t make any sense,” he added. “We’d still be making a coin that nobody wants.”


3.  TRUCK CRASH SPILLS RAMEN NOODLES ALL OVER FREEWAY

Getty Images
The North Carolina Highway Patrol says a tractor-trailer driver hauling a load of Ramen noodles nodded off at the wheel and crashed, causing a mess along southbound I-95 near Rocky Mount Wednesday morning.

"I thought I could make it down to the truck stops in Kenly, and I didn't quite make it. I kind of drowsed off, and next thing I knew I had taken out the guard rail," driver Larry Scholting told ABC11.

Troopers said the truck hit the NC Hwy 48 bridge that goes over the interstate at Exit 145 in Nash County.

"[The] trucker ran off the road to the right, struck the bridge support, split in half," explained Trooper Kevin Heath. 

Scholting was not hurt in the crash, but packets of noodles were scattered all along the highway.

A detour was set up while workers cleared up the mess. The noodles were all taken to a local landfill. 


4. More Than 2,000 Pigs Scatter on N.C. Highway

Getty Images
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Police say a truck crash stranded thousands of piglets and drivers on a North Carolina highway.

Authorities say the tractor-trailer carrying more than 2,000 piglets overturned Tuesday on Interstate 40 south of downtown Raleigh, causing damage that triggered traffic problems for hours. They said a number of pigs died, but an exact figure wasn't available.

The police report said the truck was headed west on I-40 about 10:30 a.m. when a car changed lanes in front of it, leading to a collision. According to the report, the tractor-trailer went off the interstate, across an access ramp and hit a guardrail, causing the rig to overturn.

The truck was removed from the scene, but officials said some closures would stay in effect into Tuesday night as road repairs continued.

No serious injuries were reported. 


5. Pig gut spill causes stink with I-85 drivers

Getty Images
 What a mess.

A tractor-trailer carrying pig intestines spilled exiting the off ramp of Interstate 85 South onto Belmont-Mount Holly Road at 3:21 p.m. Tuesday.

The spillage created a powerful, unique smell that could be described as pork-scented garbage. The unsightly mess was expected to back up traffic until 7 p.m.

The wreck happened after the truck shifted its load trying to make a turn. Belmont police believe speed was a factor.

The pig intestines didn't spill onto any other vehicles, but its smell crept into cars stuck in traffic. Police at the scene moved backward as changes in wind direction brought a stronger stench.

Police haven't released the name of the driver. The name of the business associated with the truck wasn't clear, though the materials do have a few uses.

"Dog food, some products are used in makeup, or human food," Belmont Police Sgt. J.B. Quinn said. "It's a large variety. Some of it is just waste."

The driver was uninjured in the crash. A truck with the privately owned Carolina Environmental Response Team was sent to the scene to clean up both the pig waste and diesel material left behind from an earlier wreck on nearby Interstate 85 carrying chickens.

Quinn said people would be surprised at how often crashes happen that involve animal byproducts. He cited one on Wilkinson Boulevard a couple months back, and another crash on Interstate 85 a couple years ago.

In June, a truck hauling bees wrecked close to the Gaston and Mecklenburg county line. In that wreck, traffic was also backed up and emergency workers had to deal with bee stings.


6.  Two Separate Shipments of Beer and Chips

Getty Images
Two trucks, one carrying beer and the other hauling chips, collided in Florida in March 2016 littering the highway with the stuff that dreams are made of. The crash between the tractor trailer transporting Busch beer and the box truck filled with Frito-Lay products occurred on Interstate 95 in Brevard County. No word on whether or not couch potatoes attempted to gather up the precious bounty themselves, but it was eventually cleaned up and hauled to a landfill by officials.  


7. Tonnes of free chocolate: Kinder and Nutella spill all over road in truck crash 

Getty Images
The clip – filmed in an unknown European location by a passing passenger – shows almost half a mile of Kinder eggs, Kinder buenos, Nutella and other chocolatey goods scattered across three motorway lanes.

Some of the treats have been crushed by the fall and passing cars and others look in good shape.

A man and woman standing amongst the fallen treats seem to be making the most of things – taking pictures and even appearing to gobble some of the goodness they've found on the ground.

But the man filming saw nothing but a chocolatey apocalypse of ruined treats gone to waste.

As they pass what must be thousands of pounds of chocolate he moans: "Kinder. No. What a sad story!"


8. Blast closes canyon

Getty Images
SPANISH FORK CANYON — Metal shards, frayed pieces of tire and an engine block were all that was left of a truck carrying 38,000 pounds of explosives after the cargo detonated Wednesday afternoon on U.S. 6 in Spanish Fork Canyon.

The truck's driver was going too fast, officials said, which caused the truck to jack-knife at the Red Narrows, one of the canyon's sharp turns. The truck tipped over, skidded across the pavement and started a fire on the mountainside.

The flames reached the explosives and sparked a massive explosion just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, leaving only the truck's engine block and a mangled axle. The blast carved a hole in the road 30 feet deep and about 70 feet wide and propelled concrete barriers into the Spanish Fork River hundreds of yards away.

The force of the blast also sent out concussion waves that shattered windshields and crumpled car frames and left many of the witnesses with temporary hearing loss.

Motorists who stopped to help the driver out of the burning truck began running or driving away after one driver told people at the scene that the semitrailer truck was carrying explosives. At least 10 people were injured when the truck exploded.

The truck had picked up its load shortly after 1 p.m. at Ensign-Bickford Industries, an explosives company in Spanish Fork, and headed up the canyon with a shipment bound for Oklahoma.

Troy Lysfjord of Blackfoot, Idaho, a passenger in the truck carrying the explosives, was transported via helicopter to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in critical condition. He was later upgraded to fair condition and is expected to be released today.

The truck's driver, Travis Stewart of Rexburg, Idaho, was flown by helicopter ambulance to University Hospital. He was in fair condition Wednesday night.

The exact number of injuries is unknown because some of the individuals drove themselves to hospitals with minor injuries, such as cuts or bruises, said Utah Highway Patrol trooper Jay J. Przybyla. In addition to UVRMC, patients were treated at LDS Hospital, the University of Utah Medical Center and hospitals in Payson and Price.

Six were at Castle View Hospital in Price. All were treated for minor injuries and released. At LDS Hospital, the driver of a car behind the truck, Art Rigoli, was treated for minor injuries and released.

Lysfjord was the co-driver and has been professionally driving a truck more than five years. The driving partners have gone through the canyon numerous times, Lysfjord said. He was trying to get some sleep in the back of the cab when the truck rolled.

"I could feel it lean to the right . . . ; the next thing I knew I was being slammed" against the cab, he said. That's when he received most of his injuries, which were cuts and scrapes.

He found Stewart, whom he calls a friend, and helped get him out of the seatbelt. Stewart ran from the truck and Lysfjord followed.

Lysfjord estimates that about 3 minutes passed between the rollover and explosion. He was about 75 yards away. He was in and out of consciousness in the canyon but said he tried his best to warn people to get away, maybe at the expense of his own safety.

"I spent way too much time trying to get people to move. They didn't move fast enough," he said. "That's hard to do when people don't listen. They're just curious, I guess."

Mapleton resident J.D. Herbert, who was treated for injuries at UVRMC, was traveling through the canyon and was thrown off his motorcycle by the explosion. He tried to seek shelter behind a minivan.

"The mom was screaming and her kids were crying," Herbert said. "Shrapnel (was) hitting the forest and crackling like bacon."

In all, eight people sought treatment at the Provo hospital, said Janet Frank, spokeswoman for UVRMC.

"The blast was hard enough to blow out windows," Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Al Christianson said. "That's pretty significant."

He compared the blast to a war-zone-type incident, and the site was still being monitored for undetonated explosives into the evening.

The explosive devices that were in the truck — small orange tubes nearly 10 inches long — are used in seismic exploration and are normally safe. However, the intense heat of the fire was too much, and all but 60 pounds exploded, said UHP Lt. Kenneth B. Peay.

The truck was following federal regulations, according to the Utah Department of Transportation and company officials.

"It is up to the United States Department of Transportation to regulate and issue permits, but as far as we know, this truck had the necessary permits to carry whatever it was carrying," said Nile Easton, spokesman for the UDOT. He said rules and regulations pertaining to the transport of hazardous materials are left up to the federal government to ensure uniformity across the states where big rigs travel.

Because of the blast, the highway is impassible, and nearby railroad tracks were bent like pipe cleaners. There is no timeline yet as to when the tracks will be ready again. The line is used by Union Pacific Railroad, Amtrak and for coal transportation.

Amtrak officials said they are holding a passenger train in Grand Junction, Colo., that would have had to pass through Spanish Fork Canyon.

Paul Crespin, manager of track maintenance for Union Pacific Railroad, has been working on the line for 34 years and said he had never seen anything like this accident.

"It's not good," he said after returning from the blast site. "Not good at all."

Construction crews were on the way up the canyon by early evening with the goal of opening the road by this weekend, said Brent Wilhite, Utah Department of Transportation spokesman.

"Our number 1 goal is to make sure the area is safe," he said. "We will work around the clock to get this road open ASAP."

UDOT will use its emergency funds to repair the road, but once everything is fixed, Wilhite said, there will be talks with the company's insurance group about restitution.

However, construction crews will not just be focusing on clearing, refilling and repaving the road. They also must create support for the side of the mountain.

The blast shaved the mountainside, sending car-size boulders down on the road, and ignited several small fires.

On top of the mountain, the blast also knocked down three power poles, disturbing phone service for the surrounding area. Scofield was the largest town affected.

Helicopters circled the area Wednesday afternoon, giving county crews a different look at the devastation. UHP pilot Steve Rugg had recently returned from serving as a pilot in Afghanistan and said this damage was incredible, much more damaging than anything he saw during the war.

"I never saw bomb craters as big as that one," he said.


9. Deli Meat, Bread Spill Onto New Jersey Highway After Truck Crash

Getty Images
A truck carrying deli meat collided with another truck carrying bread on a New Jersey highway Friday morning, causing a sandwich-like spill on the busy roadway.

The trucks collided on Interstate 287's southbound lanes in Piscataway shortly before 6 a.m., causing backups that stretched several exits. 

Chopper 4 footage from over the scene shows first responders cleaning up spilled bread and meats. The trailer portion of one of the trucks appears to be destroyed, and its contents are spewed about the roadway.

By about 7:30 a.m., most of the cleanup had been completed.

There weren't any reports of injuries.

Backups on the roadway stretched several miles as all but one lane on the roadway's southbound lanes were closed.

0 Response to "9 More Bizarre Truck Spills"