Motorway closed after 21-year-old by chance spills 20,000 litres of poo onto highway
A 21-year-old farmer made the smelliest mistake of his life when he spilt 20 thousand litres of animal manure onto a German motorway, causing major disruption and closures
The incident reportedly caused a major traffic build up(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Ever been driving in the countryside and had the unpleasant experience of passing some freshly laid manure?
If you have, you’ll know just how pungent the stuff, which is mostly made up of animal excrement, can be. Imagine then quite how horrific it would be to get stuck in a traffic jam with 20,000 litres of the stuff poured all over the road.
Well that’s exactly what happened in Germany, where a 21-year-old farmer lost control of his tractor and the connecting trailer, and managed to spill the equivalent of 35,000 pints of the stinky stuff all over a motorway and the adjacent green strip.
It is believed the unlucky lad veered out of control while transporting the manure near to the town of Krautheim in Germany’s Hohenlohe district, although it is unknown exactly why he lost control or whether the manure container was in some way faulty or incorrectly attached.
What is known is that the manure tank was heavily damaged by the crash and a breach in the container saw the stinky liquid seeping out onto the road.
Emergency services including the fire department were reportedly called.
The smelly spill caused traffic mayhem across the area, with traffic jams reported. The effected road was closed off by officials, who set about cleaning up the spill.
Thankfully, the farmer involved in the crash was unarmed, but both the tractor, trailer and tank suffered major damage, the cost of which amounted to an estimated €55,000, according to BILD.
The local water board is believed to have launched an investigation into whether the nearby water protection area had been contaminated by the manure.
This stinky incident is not the first time a manure spill has caused disruption in Germany.
Back in 2014, 4 million litres of liquid manure flooded land around an important biomass plant north of Hamburg.
More than 100 fire fighters were tasked with to containing leak and minimizing pollution of nearby lakes and streams.
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