Truck carrying dead bird flu ducks crashes in Indiana, sparks hazmat response

Emergency management responded to a hazmat situation on Friday morning after a waste management truck carrying ducks that had died from bird flu crashed into a ditch at the side of a highway, according to officials.

The truck rolled into a ditch along U.S. Route 33 in Churubusco in Northern Indiana just after 8 a.m., forcing the highway to close in both directions, the Whitley County Emergency Management Agency said in a news alert.

The scene was secured with a 100-foot perimeter as a precaution and there’s no known threat to public health at this time, the agency said.

“Waste management, Maple Leaf Farms, and Indiana Board of Animal Health are working together to have a specialized team to come do the cleanup,” the agency said.

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Smith Township Fire Department, Whitley Sheriff Department, Churubusco Police Department and Whitley County Emergency Management all responded to the incident.

“Avoid the area of 650 East and US 33 north of Churubusco due to an emergency scene,” the agency said Friday morning on social media.

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The dead ducks had been picked up at several Maple Leaf Farms in Northern Michigan, and they had all been diseased with bird flu.

The H5N1 Avian Flu outbreak has been ongoing in the U.S. for the last several years, and has left hundreds of millions of birds dead.

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The avian flu is highly contagious among birds and some mammals, but doesn’t transmit easily to humans.

“People rarely get bird flu, but when they do, it is most often after close, unprotected exposure (without wearing respiratory or eye protection) to birds or other animals infected with avian influenza A viruses,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website.