Skip to main content

Who you gonna call?

Emergency services in the US state of Oregon recently faced a rather unusual challenge when they were called out to deal with the aftermath of a crash. A truck had overturned, spilling its load into the roadway and onto a number of other vehicles. Unfortunately the truck’s load happened to comprise several tonnes of live hagfish, which were being transported to Korea, where they are eaten as a delicacy.
October 18, 2017 Read time: 1 min

Emergency services in the US state of Oregon recently faced a rather unusual challenge when they were called out to deal with the aftermath of a crash. A truck had overturned, spilling its load into the roadway and onto a number of other vehicles. Unfortunately the truck’s load happened to comprise several tonnes of live hagfish, which were being transported to Korea, where they are eaten as a delicacy. Hagfish have no backbones and produce slime when under stress, which was certainly the case in this crash. The truck and several cars were damaged during the incident and also covered in slime, which emergency crews had to wash away before the road, the busy I-101 route, could be returned to normal traffic flow.

Related Content

  • Very under the influence
    December 18, 2017
    When a doctor crashed his car in the UK recently police were quickly at the scene of the incident and breathalysed the driver. He was found to have a blood alcohol count three times that of the permitted level. He explained that immediately after the crash he crawled from his wrecked BMW, opened a bottle of vodka he had with him and drank from this in a bid to steady his nerves. However this explanation was not believed in court as the man had been drinking the night before and was thought to still have
  • Let’s go party
    October 3, 2018
    Some friends in the US decided to turn a toy Barbie Mustang car into something rather more entertaining. The men fitted a Honda motorcycle engine and new driveline components, including go-kart tyres. This allowed a top speed of 115km/h, which it could reach in just six seconds, making it rather lively and spirited and also difficult to control. The vehicle is definitely not likely to be made road legal any time soon and nor is a model with a similar performance ever likely to be available from the original
  • Wrong time to end right turns?
    March 15, 2024
    Banning right-hand turns after stopping for a red light is gaining momentum in the US. But debate continues about whether it will result in fewer incidents between vehicles and alternative mobility users. David Arminas reports.
  • New EU-Russian highway connection
    February 18, 2013
    Among the forests and lakes of Finland, one of Europe's newest motorway links is being built as a Green highway linking Europe to Russia - Adrian Greeman reports The road eastwards from Finland's capital Helsinki, along the north coast of the Gulf of Finland, has not carried heavy traffic volumes, at least until recent times. Highway seven as it is designated locally, or E18 in European nomenclature, is partly motorway but in some sections still dual carriageway or even just a single lane each way, finishin