Millions of Coins Spill on US Highway, Road Closed for 14 Hours

Truck Carrying Coins Worth 1.12 Billion Won Overturns
Vacuum Cleaners, Shovels, and Brooms Used in Recovery Effort

A major transport truck carrying coins overturned on a highway in Texas, USA, spilling millions of coins across the road. As a result, coin collection efforts led to the road being closed for 14 hours.

According to reports from AP and The New York Times (NYT) on May 2 (local time), the accident occurred at around 5:30 a.m. on April 29 on a highway near Alvord in northern Texas. The vehicle involved was an 18-wheeled large trailer, which was transporting 8 million new 10-cent coins worth $800,000 (approximately 1.12 billion won). The truck was owned by Western Distributing Transportation Corporation, a company that operates a department responsible for transporting government cargo with large vehicles accompanied by armed guards. The company has not issued any statement regarding the accident.

The overturned vehicle involved in an accident on a highway in Texas, USA, on the 29th of last month (local time). Photo by AP

At the time of the accident, the vehicle overturned after suddenly changing direction and veering off the road. There were two people in the truck?the driver and an armed guard. Both suffered non-life-threatening injuries, were taken to the hospital for treatment, and have since been discharged.

Following the accident, coin collection efforts led by road management authorities and police resulted in a section of the highway being closed for nearly 14 hours. Large industrial vacuum cleaners, brooms, shovels, and other equipment were used in the operation. Workers used the industrial vacuums to suck up coins scattered across two lanes of the highway. They also knelt down to pick up coins by hand from the ground. The Texas Department of Public Safety announced that highway traffic resumed at around 7 p.m. on the day of the accident.

Alvord Mayor Caleb Caviness said, "It was impressive to see cleaning trucks that normally suck up sewage being used to collect the coins," adding, "Most of the coins appear to have been collected by the afternoon of the day after the accident." However, he noted that some coins that were not recovered may have been washed away by about 10 centimeters of rain that fell the following morning.