Apple Truck Causes Traffic Jam

When 24 tonnes of apples are catapulted across a road it can only mean a jam.

And in this case it was a traffic jam that went on for three hours as firemen and police struggled to remove the fruit that had spread across the road in the agricultural district of Oberpullendorf in eastern Austria’s Burgenland region.

According to police the Hungarian lorry loaded with apples had tipped over after the 28-year-old Hungarian driver had left the road.

Firemen who were at the scene had to divert traffic over alternative roads while the apples were recovered by the company that sent a new lorry over to gather the bruised and damaged fruit. They also needed to arrange for a crane to lift the lorry out of the ditch so that the route could be reopened.

The apples which had been destined for a market were taken back to the firm’s warehouse where they were judged as too badly bruised to be sold directly to the public, and as a result sent away to be made into apple jam and cider.

Although much of Austria consists of mountainous terrain, the eastern province of Burgenland is known as the country’s agricultural region with extensive winegrowing areas, orchards and fields.

Police said that the lorry that turned over was extensively damaged and needed to be loaded onto a special vehicle to be transported back to Hungary for repairs.