Tens of thousands of tomatoes cause traffic chaos after lorry spills load on to Californian highway
According to the California Highway Patrol, fist-sized tomatoes covered eastbound lanes on the motorway for about 200ft (60m), creating a red mass that seemed to be about "two feet deep".
Tuesday 30 August 2022 10:32, UK
A lorry carrying tens of thousands of tomatoes crashed and spilled its load over a Californian highway, causing a seven-car pile-up and major delays.
Several lanes on Interstate 80 near Alamo in Vacaville, California were closed following the crash on Monday.
The incident happened at about 5am, when the truck collided with a car and swerved, hitting another vehicle before driving into the central reservation, scattering more than 150,000 tomatoes on to the road, police said.
According to the California Highway Patrol, fist-sized tomatoes covered eastbound lanes on the motorway for about 200ft (60m), creating a red mass that seemed to be about "two feet deep".
Drivers, unaware of the incident, drove over them, creating a gooey mix of tomato juice, oil and dirt.
Before the road was closed, one car stuck in the road was hit by another vehicle, causing a chain reaction of crashes involving seven cars.
Three people, including the driver of the truck, had minor injuries and a fourth person was taken to hospital with a broken leg, patrol officer Jason Tyhurst said.
The California Highway Patrol closed the interstate on both sides, causing traffic and delays, while the spillage was cleaned up.
The road was reopened at about 3pm on Monday morning.
Vehicles laden with tomatoes grown in the area use Interstate 80 at this time of year to transport the fruit to the Bay Area and Sacramento.