1.5 lakh tomatoes on road cause crashes, confusion and closure of highway

More than 1.5 lakh tomatoes spilled onto the road due to a truck accident in California, United States which led to massive traffic chaos, accidents on the highway. Tomatoes entirely covered the lanes of one side of the highway across a distance of about 100 meter, creating a red mass that was about “2 feet deep".

According to a NYT report, more than 150,000 tomatoes scattered across the heavily trafficked Interstate 80 in Vacaville, California, after a big rig that had been transporting tomatoes collided with a vehicle and swerved, striking another vehicle before driving into the center median of the highway.



Soon, drivers in the dark of early morning failed to detect the tomatoes and drove over them, creating a gooey concoction of watery tomato juice, oil and dirt. This made the road dangerously slippery.

The mashed tomato spill caused seven cars to crash on the highway, according to the BBC. The California Highway Patrol said that three people received minor injuries and fourth one was admitted to the hospital with a broken leg.

According to reports, it took several hours for the authorities to open the highway stretch after a clean-up operation.

California produces more than 90 per cent of US' processed tomatoes and almost half of global processed tomatoes.