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A truck carrying hagfish crashed on Highway 101 in Lincoln County Thursday. Cars were covered with hagfish and their slime. No one was hurt.
A 1993 Mitsubishi truck was being driven by Salvatore Tragale, from Lincoln City, was traveling northbound on US Highway 101.
Tragale approached a construction zone, but was unable to stop the vehicle.
The Mitsubishi was loaded with thirteen containers of hagfish. They weighed 7,500 pounds.
The transfer of weight caused one of the containers to come off the truck bed and fly across the highway into the southbound lane. The other containers separated from the bed of the truck and spilled onto the highway. As a result, the flat bed completely separated from frame of the truck.
When the container struck the southbound vehicles, it caused a chain reaction pushing four vehicles into each other. Minor injuries were repoted.
When hagfish become stressed, they secrete a slime, which covered the vehicles and the highway.
Depoe Bay Fire hosed the hagfish and slime off the roadway.