A truck driver accidentally released 15,000 live crabs this week after the vehicle he was transporting them in crashed into a ditch. The crabs were heading to shops and restaurants in Portugal when they made their daring escape.

The thousands of crustaceans were released when they spilled from the aluminium containers they were inside, which popped open during the crash. The truck carrying the containers tipped over into a field in Inishowen, County Donegal, in Ireland.

The truck driver was reportedly unhurt in the crash. The Donegal County Council, however, had to close the road for 18 hours.

Recapturing the live crabs required a large recovery operation

Recovery of the 15,000 live crabs, as well as some lobsters and oysters, required large night lights, a hydraulic crane, and a salvage team of 10.

Odhran McLaughlin of McLaughlin’s Light and Heavy Recovery Services told BBC News it was one of the more “unusual” calls they have made. “It was like nothing we’ve ever dealt with before,” he said.

“It was a very unusual scene to say the least,” McLaughlin told RTE. “When we arrived, a lot of the crabs had spilled out of their containers and were making a bid for freedom into the fields.

“A team of up to ten of us had to physically retrieve the crabs and put them into large bags and reload them onto the truck. It took a good few hours to fill the bags.”

No small achievement, considering local fishermen had caught the crabs, and they were worth about $70,000. Workers eventually loaded them back onto the truck, which the crane had righted, and sent them on to Portugal.