MMore than 150,000 tomatoes were scattered Monday morning (local time) in a crash on the Interstate 80 freeway in Vacaville, California. The scattered harvest caused a number of other accidents. According to US media, four people were injured, one seriously.
A truck carrying the tomatoes collided with several cars and eventually crashed into the median, local police said to the New York Times. The truck lost the load.
Since the accident happened in the early hours of the morning, the tomatoes were scattered and mashed by passing cars on the highway. As a result, the road became extremely slippery in large parts.
Tomato mash leads to chain reaction
According to police, a car came to a stop on the slippery road and was rammed by another vehicle. The tomatoes set off a chain reaction: other cars collided or skidded during evasive manoeuvres.
Seven cars were involved in the accident. Three people, including the driver of the truck, suffered minor injuries and a fourth was taken to hospital with a broken leg.
The California Highway Patrol closed almost all lanes on both sides of Interstate 80.
“We’ve never seen so many tomatoes fall off a truck and block a highway,” Vince Jacala, a spokesman for the agency, told the New York Times. The California Highway Patrol in Solano County has dealt with spilled tomatoes before, but not to this extent. Tomatoes pose a particular hazard, Jacala says, because they’re soft, mushy, and therefore slippery.
Emergency services cleaned the road with sweepers and absorbent powder. The freeway was fully reopened around 3 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
The accident happened during the tomato season in California. According to the California Tomato Growers Association, more than 90 percent of the state’s processed tomatoes are produced in this state.
