The Vosges firefighters were called to intervene on the A31 during the night of Friday December 20 to Saturday December 21, shortly before 3:45 a.m. The cause: the accident of a heavy goods vehicle transporting 150 pigs. In Haute-Marne, XXL traffic jams formed at the Montigny-le-Roi tollbooth.
The accident of a heavy goods vehicle carrying 150 pigs on the A31 mobilized the Vosges firefighters this Saturday, December 21, at 3:45 a.m.
For a reason that remains to be determined, a heavy goods vehicle fell on the side of the road, near the town of Robécourt.
At the beginning of the afternoon, the evacuation of the pigs, many of which we already know have died, is underway.
Consequence of this accident in Haute-Marne: XXL traffic jams formed at the Montigny-le-Roi toll which became the convergence point for all these motorists diverted from their end-of-year holiday destination.
Users of the A31 coming from the direction of Breuvannes-en-Bassigny must wait: a traffic jam creates a queue of 500 m; those who come from the direction of Bourbonne-les-Bains must wait in the same proportions. But it is those who come from the direction of Bourmont, via Montigny-le-Roi who must show even more patience. We drive at walking pace from the Montigny-le-Roi exit to the entrance to the motorway toll booth, a good kilometer of traffic.
That's not all: still linked to the accident on the A31, the firefighters had to intervene around 11:15 a.m. at a ditch which feeds a lake in Robécourt, where there was a risk of pollution.
Chaumont slaughterhouse called for help
For the management of live (and not injured) pigs, the Vosges Chamber of Agriculture called the management of the Chaumont departmental slaughterhouse. Thanks to a truck that came to the scene of the accident, the transfer was carried out this afternoon for an emergency slaughter decreed by the Vosges veterinary services.
The pigs will be welcomed and fed at the slaughterhouse and they will be slaughtered this Monday, December 23.
Romain Graillot, the president of SCIC Coop Viandes de Haute-Marne, sees the whole point of a local slaughterhouse in the department. It should be noted that the injured pigs have already been euthanized on site.
On June 10, an accident of the same type occurred in Chassigny. The consequences of this “aftershock” on traffic are more significant on a motorway, and during a weekend with very busy traffic just a stone's throw from Christmas.
Phillipe Lagler and Fabienne Ausserre and Frédéric Thévenin
[email protected] and [email protected] and [email protected]
