Truck carrying 2,200 piglets overturns, killing about half

XENIA, Ohio (AP) -- Authorities estimate up to 1,100 piglets may have died when a semitrailer carrying 2,200 piglets overturned on an Ohio highway.

Agencies and volunteers worked to corral the animals after the crash Monday night on U.S. Route 35 in Xenia Township, near Dayton. Crews picked up squealing pigs by their hind legs.

Some may have escaped into wooded areas. Deputy Chief Greg Beegle of the township's fire department says authorities rounded up those they could find before ending the search. He says 1,100 were taken to Greene County Fairgrounds to await transportation. The truck was traveling to Indiana from South Carolina.

Beegle says pigs killed were crushed, suffocated or thrown from the truck.

Authorities say the uninjured semitrailer driver lost control, slamming into a guardrail. A female passenger had minor injuries.

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