Traffic misery as lorry carrying livestock turns over on the E17 motorway
Motorists using the E17 Ghent to Kortrijk motorway in East Flanders have been facing big delays this Friday after a lorry carrying cows turned over at Gentbrugge on stretch of the motorway where roadworks are currently being carried out. The incident happened shortly before 3am. Later a second accident involving HGVs occurred at the end of the traffic jam caused by the initial incident. It is expected that it will be some time yet before the situation returns to normal. Motorists are advised to seek alternative routes.
A number of the 32 cows that were being transported in the trailer of the lorry died in the accident. Those that the survived were transferred into another trailer.
Not an easy task given the circumstances. A special team of vets attended the scene along with a specialist team from the Ghent Fire Service whose job it is to free the cows still trapped in the trailer. It took until after 9am before their work was completed.