Up to 100 villagers living near the Chengdu-Ya'an highway scrambled to scoop up 100,000 eggs that fell off a truck after a road accident last Wednesday, reports the Chengdu-based Tianfu Morning Post.

Xue, owner of the load, was transporting 200,000 eggs from Emeishan to Chengdu when his truck broke down at 2 am.

As the driver stopped to inspect the problem, another vehicle hit the truck from behind and sent it gliding 20 metres, causing a great number of the eggs to fly off.

While the drivers and passengers in both trucks felt lucky that no one was hurt in the accident, villagers who heard about it began arriving from all directions with buckets and basins in hand.

They jumped the road barrier and rushed to collect as many eggs, whole or cracked, as possible.

Dozens of them carefully combed the grass at the roadside to harvest intact eggs.

Although the drivers and traffic police who later arrived on the scene tried to stop the villagers, they would not be deterred. The loss amounted to more than 100,000 yuan (US$12,080), said Xue.

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