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A tractor-trailer hauling 20 tons of squid sent its slippery cargo across a Rhode Island roadway and left traffic in an eight-hour traffic jam this past weekend.
The crash happened just before 9:30 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Pt. Judith Road and Galilee Escape Road in Narragansett, the local police department said in a news release. The coastal resort town is located about 30 miles south of Providence.
The truck was trying to turn onto Pt. Judith Rd., when the trailer broke loose from the cab and tipped onto its side.
"At the time of the incident, the fully loaded trailer was transporting squid to a processing facility out of town," police said. "A substantial portion of the squid fell onto the roadway.”
The spill blocked all lanes of travel on the road, delaying traffic for hours as crews worked to clear the smelly scene.
"Squid has a distinctive odor to it. I'm a fisherman, and I use squid for bait,” Richard Stevens, one resident, told WJAR.
“I'm quite used to it, but it can be very foul-smelling, especially if it lies on the road and stays there for a while. The fire department is doing a great job cleaning things up as best they can.”
The intersection reopened to traffic later that night, around 5:15 p.m., about eight hours after the spill.
Despite the traffic headache and messy cleanup, neither the truck’s driver nor passenger was injured in the situation, police said. The driver was cited by the Rhode Island State Police for failure to secure a load, ABC News reports.
The Narragansett Fire Department, Rhode Island State Police Commercial Enforcement Unit, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and Rhode Island Department of Transportation responded to help manage traffic and clean up the scene.
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