N381 closed until 8 p.m. due to accident: cleaning and repair a ‘time-consuming job’

The N381 between Emmen and Beilen near Garminge will remain closed until at least 8 p.m. due to an accident between a truck and a car. The province’s cleanup and recovery work has been taking almost all day.

Since 9 a.m. this morning, road users have no longer been able to use the N381. The manure that the truck was transporting ended up on the road due to the collision. A ruptured oil tank also leaked hundreds of liters of diesel onto the asphalt, the roadside and into the adjacent ditch.

All in all, the province has its hands full with the accident, in which the motorist was injured and the truck driver escaped unscathed. “In the first hours, most of the time is spent on the police investigation and recovery,” says a spokesperson for the province. “The overturned truck had to be lifted with a crane and placed on a low loader. The recovery crews and police were not ready until around 1 p.m.”

Cleaners and repairers could then get to work on the damage on the provincial road. Due to the amount of manure and diesel that had ended up in the roadside, it had to be excavated and repaired. In addition, an environmental expert is investigating the extent to which the ditch is contaminated.

“Furthermore, the tank of the truck had to be emptied from the inside. That was also a time-consuming job,” the spokesperson explains the hours-long blockage. “This is an accident that involves a lot. That is why it will take until 8 p.m. before road users can pass again.”