A truckload of pigs is currently running loose on the E34 motorway, which has been completely shut down to traffic after a truck carrying the animals tipped over.
A spokesperson with the Flemish Traffic Centre warned motorists leaving Antwerp in the direction of the coast that the motorway was inaccessible in the area near Moerbeke, where the incident took place.
"The #E34 is completely closed in Moerbeke, there is a tilted truck there," spokesperson Peter Bruyninckx tweeted shortly after 9:00 AM. "The pigs that the truck transported are running loose on the road."
Authorities had initially closed only one side of the motorway, but chose to close down both lanes after the animals started wandering around, HLN reports.
Nearly 200 pigs were being transported by the truck when it tipped over in circumstances that remain unclear, with reports that some of the animals were injured as a result of the incident.
Pictures of the incident show several pigs laying down by the road and feeding on the grass as first respondents work to get the situation under control.
The Flemish Traffic Centre said on its website that the animals were on the loose on the motorway and that the nuisance to drivers was expected to last for around two hours, sharing alternative routes drivers can take to avoid the scene.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
