Commuters seen ‘grabbing chickens’ after lorry crash on Indian highway

One person reportedly died and several were injured after collision on NH-18 highway in India

A large number of chickens have reportedly been stolen after a lorry transporting the birds crashed on a highway in Uttar Pradesh, India.

The road accident occurred amid foggy weather conditions in parts of the country, which also affected the Agra-Delhi highway, known as NH-18.

The collision left dozens of vehicles damaged on the highway and one person was reported to have died, with several others suffering from injuries.

After the crash, commuters reportedly started looting from a lorry carrying chickens, instead of helping the injured driver. After taking the chickens, people were seen fleeing from the scene.

Video footage captured by Piyush Rai on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows people hastily taking the chickens, with some even bundling the birds in sacks.

“In UP’s Agra, a lorry carrying chickens met with an accident in a road pile up due to dense fog. Commuters can be seen grabbing chickens and fleeing from the spot. Some bundled them in sack,” Mr Rai wrote in the social media post on Wednesday (27 December).

"No person suffered fatal injury in the incident while the number of those injured was yet to be ascertained," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Ashok Kumar said, as reported by ABP Live.

The driver, identified as Sunil Kumar, said he asked for help but instead, people continued to loot the lorry and take the birds away. He said he tried to stop people from stealing but he was helpless due to the large crowd of people, The Times of India reports.

The chickens were worth nearly two hundred and fifty thousand rupees, resulting in a huge loss for the driver, according to the outlet.

Over 100 flights were also affected on Wednesday as the season’s worst fog enveloped Delhi in the early hours, plunging visibility to under 50 metres in some areas of the Indian capital as the air quality index dipped.

The Indian Meteorological Department classifies fog as “shallow” when visibility is between 500 and 1000m, “moderate” when between 200 and 500m, “dense” when visibility ranges between 50 and 200m, and “very dense” when under 50m.

India has some of the highest road death rates in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people killed and injured annually.

Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and ageing vehicles.