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M1: Motorway reopens after cows rescued from overturned lorry

18 minutes agoPacemaker the underside of a lorry can be seen after it overturned. there are a number of rescue workers on top of the lorry and standing to its side. The area is surrounded in green bushes, trees and long grass. Pacemaker

Cows have been rescued after a livestock lorry overturned on the M1 motorway on Friday morning.

The fire service and two animal rescue teams attended the scene, with 40 cattle involved in the incident.

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David Doherty, area commander for the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS), said the driver "is safe and well" but the Department for Infrastructure said some cows have been put down.

Earlier, the motorway was closed between junctions 11 and 12 in both directions, but has since fully reopened.

Pacemaker Emergency services attend the scene of a crash on the M1 motorway. An overturned lorry can be seen in the distance with a number of fire appliances parked nearby. /p pAnother blue livestock lorry is parked close by the overturned lorry.Pacemaker

Mr Doherty told BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show[1] that 30 firefighters attended the scene along with appliances from Dungannon, Portadown and Armagh.

He added that vets attended the scene to assess the animals' welfare alongside the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera).

The live cattle were placed into another lorry to be transferred from the site.

'Total gridlock'

Lucas Vogan. He has short white hair, wearing sunglasses on his head and a light blue short sleeve shirt. /p pHe is standing on a motorway bridge with his hands behind his back.

Lucas Vogan is a local resident in the Birches in County Armagh.

"There was a greater volume of traffic with the Balmoral Show already... so the diversion has caused much disruption," Mr Vogan told BBC News NI.

"The rural roads which people were diverted onto aren't built for that volume of traffic, there has been total gridlock - delays of up to two hours and local residents couldn't get in and out if their houses.

"People just had to phone work and say they couldn't come - neighbours of ours missed their hospital appointments."

References

  1. ^ BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show (www.bbc.co.uk)

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