Saundra Wilson

The Republic | azcentral.com

A semitruck carrying 172 pigs crashed on Interstate 15 in northern Arizona on Monday afternoon, shutting down the highway's southbound lanes and leaving several pigs gravely injured, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Four pigs escaped into the Virgin River Gorge between Mesquite, Nevada, and St. George, Utah, while many others roamed free on the highway, where motorists stopped to help corral them, DPS officials said.

The truck, owned by Utah-based Gurney Trucking, was traveling southbound on Interstate 15 to California when the driver lost control on a curve near milepost 14, tipping over a barrier wall, said DPS spokesman Bart Graves.

Graves said the force of the impact ripped open the trailer, sending pigs out onto the road. Pigs that were gravely injured had to be euthanized, while four pigs escaped into the gorge, he said.

The remaining pigs are being held in a temporary corral that was constructed for them while they wait to be picked up by another semitruck sent by Gurney Trucking, Graves said.

The driver was not injured in the crash, Graves said. Officials did not have an estimate on when southbound I-15 will reopen.

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