MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: hogs from an overturned truck slaughtered in the highway by thieves

Pictures of the chaotic situation rapidly became viral as police officers tried to catch some of the hogs and arrest those involved in slaughtering

A truck carrying live pigs turned over in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, and neighbors and other cars looted the cargo and in some cases slaughtered the animals in the highway. The accident took place in the access of Coronale Vidal, some 300 kilometers from the city of Buenos Aires.

Apparently in a few minutes early Wednesday some 150 people had gathered to catch the 120 pigs, each weighing 100 kilos, meant for an abattoir. The driver of the truck reported by cell phone the accident to the police which in several patrol cars arrived at the place of the incident. However police were outnumbered, and some of the people slaughtering the pigs in the highway even threatened the officers.

Reinforcements had to be called in and finally some twenty people were arrested, three live pigs recovered as well as 18 pork carcasses and seven vehicles. Police reported that most of the rustlers arrived in cars and small trucks, not necessarily hungry or desperate people in pandemic Argentina with its economy in deep recession.

But once in the police station, the detainees were released since there were no facilities to lock up the many arrested and on fears of Covid-19 contagion. Nevertheless a prosecutor opened a case on charges of aggravated assault, theft and gang threatening with knives.

Images of the scene show how cars and trucks stopped to take advantage of the situation, some trying to catch the hogs live while others simply slaughtered them on the spot. Stealing cargoes of trucks that suffer accidents in highways in Argentina is a common sight, but not “the cruelty with which the hogs were slaughtered”, was the reaction from many viewers of the viral scenes.