M1 now fully reopened after four cattle die and 36 rescued by firefighters during major motorway incident

Firefighters and their crews from their Animal Rescue Teams in Omagh and Newcastle arrived on the M1 motorway between Portadown and Dungannon at 5.40am today.

A chief firefighter has revealed the level of resources tasked to the incident near Peatlands Park.

One man, believed to the driver of the lorry, was brought by ambulance to Craigavon Area Hospital.

It was a long and difficult incident involving 40 cattle in the back of the lorry which involved specialist help from the NI Fire and Rescue Service’s most specialist teams from their animal rescue section plus appliances from various areas.

Throughout the morning the specialist teams extracted the animals and sadly four cattle had sadly died.

It was mayhem traffic wise as one cameraman shared. A lorry on its side on what is normally a very busy motorway.

One man, the lorry driver, was taken to Craigavon Area Hospital. Then began the huge operation, spearheaded by the NI Fire and Rescue Service, to extract 40 cattle from the lorry which somehow had landed on its side.

A Craigavon man and his son had been driving to work in the Moy area when they came across the crash soon after the incident.

He was driving, with his son, when he came across the incident at 6.15am and spotted they were blocking off the road. Knowing the area, he pulled off at the Birches turn off and drove along the road which is parallel with the M1 near Peatlands Park.

"Almost at the entrance to Peatlands Park is where the accident happened. We could see the lorry on its side and there were a couple of other cattle lorries around it.

"At the time I didn’t realise there were cattle in the lorry,” he said. The Craigavon man, who didn’t want to be named but is a local photographer, told his son to video and capture what was happening.

He said: “The back doors were shut so I assumed there were no cattle in it. I couldn’t hear any bawling that you would expect to hear if there were cattle in the truck. There was no noise coming from it.”

He said the emergency services were already there and traffic was starting to build up.

"The first thing I was looking for was if anyone else was hurt and injured. You could see the lorry and I was looking for cars but there was nothing else involved,” he said.

"It could have been worse. If it was later in the day, there would have been more traffic on the road and it could have been a worse outcome,” he said.

“I just hope no one was else injured and thinking of the lorry driver and hope he is OK,” said the Craigavon man, who noted the roof of the cab of the lorry was ‘kicked out’. “It’s an escape hatch on the lorry and hope he was able to get out and was OK. It was the first thing I noticed that the hatch was kicked out and I knew he was out of the lorry.”

He said: “It was bad but it could have been a lot, lot worse. If it had happened later in the morning with more traffic it would have been horrendous.

“When we are starting to go to work at that time it is quiet but if it had happened a bit later, oh My God it would have been horrendous,” he said.

NIFRS Group Commander Karen McDowell said: “We were tasked to a one vehicle road traffic collision regarding a livestock vehicle containing approximately 40 cattle.

"The driver was taken to hospital. There were 36 cattle rescued. Unfortunately four were deceased.”

Three appliances at the scene at any one time as were three pumping appliances along with the NIFRS Specialist Rescue Team. Also there were the Animal Rescue Teams from Omagh and Newcastle. The NIFRS Command Vehicle was also in attendance.

"We got this call at approximately twenty to 6 this morning and the stop went in at just before 2pm. That’s quite an extensive operation,” she said.

The Group Commander revealed that while there were three appliances at any one time, there were relieve appliances attending. It was almost difficult to quantify the number of NIFRS staff who attended during this incident at the time of speaking to the Group Commander. However she revealed that 8 personnel from the NIFRS Animal Rescue Team were on the scene.

“No one from the NIFRS was injured,” she revealed.

A PSNI spokesperson said the M1 eastbound and westbound near Lurgan has now fully reopened following the earlier closure due to an overturned livestock lorry. Chief Superintendent Sam Donaldson said: "At approximately 5.30am, we received a report that a lorry containing approximately 40 cattle had overturned on the main carriageway.

“Officers along with other emergency services attended the scene and closed the road to ensure the safety of the public and welfare of the animals.

“One man, the driver of the lorry, sustained minor injuries in the collision and was taken to hospital for treatment.

“A vet, along with specially trained officers attended the scene and humanely euthanised a number cattle that had been badly injured.

“The road has since been cleared, the remaining animals have been removed and the lorry recovered. “I would like to thank the public for their patience while we carried out this complex recovery operation. “I am appealing to anyone who witnessed the collision or to anyone who may have footage that could assist with enquiries to contact police on 101 quoting reference 179 16/05/25.”