(Le Mars) — A semi truck and livestock trailer loaded with nearly 150 head of market size hogs overturned last night (Friday) near the intersection of Highway 3 and Iris Avenue, about six miles west of Le Mars. The accident happened at about 6:25 p.m. and resulted in about a third of the hogs having been killed or severely injured. The driver of the truck, Lawrance Martin Charles, 24, of Grant City, MO, was uninjured during the incident. Apparently, the truck was heading eastbound on Highway 3 when the driver was reaching for an object within his cab, when his truck hit a bridge in several areas, on the north side of the highway that crosses a small creek. The truck driver tried to correct the truck when he lost control of the rig. The truck then entered the south ditch, and went through a barb wire fence and overturning on its side in a farmer’s pasture, near the small creek. The Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department along with the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office responded to the accident scene. A second livestock trailer was brought to the scene, along with a farmer’s tractor and pig carrier. Firefighters and nearby farmers helped move the live hogs from the overturned truck to the second livestock truck parked on Highway 3. Firefighters had to use industrial saws to cut through the roof of the livestock trailer in order to rescue the live hogs. Crews were on the scene for approximately five and a half hours before the accident scene was cleared. Highway 3 was limited to one lane of travel for most of the evening, and it was shut down for more than an hour as crews worked to retrieve the overturned truck and livestock trailer out of the pasture and ditch. Assisting at the scene were Stockman’s Towing, the Iowa Department of Transportation, The Iowa Motor Vehicle Enforcement, and North West REC. The semi truck and the livestock trailer were both totaled during the accident.
