Crying with joy over spilled rice

Reaping from mishap: A passer-by collecting the rice spilled from the truck onto Jalan Bukit Tengah in Bukit Mertajam.

MOTORISTS, passers-by and workers from nearby factories clambered over each other to collect rice which spilled onto the road after the driver of a 14-wheeler jammed on the brakes to prevent a collision with a car in Penang.

The driver, who wanted to be known only as Liu, 46, said he also swerved his vehicle and this caused some of contents of the 20-tonne rice consignment to spill onto the road in Jalan Bukit Tengah, Bukit Mertajam, at about 4pm on Monday.

“The 20m-long spillage caused people to stop their vehicles in order to scoop up the rice.

“I also saw numerous foreign factory workers, armed with buckets and containers, rushing out from their workplace to collect the rice.

“I tried to stop them but failed as there were too many. Some of them even climbed into the back of the truck to get to the rice,” he said when met at the scene.

He added that about 10 tonnes of rice were lost to the opportunists.

A crane was later dispatched to the scene to load the remaining rice onto another truck. A voluntary fire brigade also rushed to the scene to restore order and direct traffic.