A truck driver was taken to the hospital with a severed arm after the semi he was driving flipped into the median on Interstate 40 Friday morning (Sept. 13).
The driver, whose name has not yet been released, suffered an amputation of his left arm at the mid-forearm, according to Mulberry firefighters.
The accident happened just before 6 a.m. near mile marker 17. The driver was trapped temporarily, but was rescued and transported by ambulance to Mercy Hospital.
The driver told authorities he was switching lanes when he drove off the road and the truck became caught in the cables in the median and overturned, according to Arkansas State Police.
Nearly six hours after the accident, westbound traffic near Mulberry was still reduced to one lane on Interstate 40 as crews clear the contents of the truck.
The Tyson Foods truck was carrying nearly 40,000 pounds of frozen chicken, according to a spokesperson with Tyson. The contents will be taken to a processing center for inspection by the USDA. If the chicken does not pass the inspection, it will be sent to a facility where it will likely become animal food, according to the Tyson spokesperson.
Once the all the food is cleared from the interstate, crews will begin to get the truck upright, so it can be towed.