Villagers rushed to the scene to steal chicks when a truck carrying thousands of the birds overturned on a highway in Shandong province on Tuesday, causing a traffic jam more than 10 kilometers long.

The truck overturned at noon in Zhanhua county, Binzhou, on a highway linking Rongcheng in Shandong and Wuhai in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Most of the chicks that spilled out onto the road and embankment were alive and were stolen by villagers who rushed to the scene after hearing about the accident.

Some of them came on tricycles to take them, while those who were stranded on the highway got out of their vehicles and started to pick up the birds.

The owner said the chicks were worth about 50,000 yuan ($7,800).

Two days ago, when a truck carrying 20 metric tons of apples tipped over on a highway in Henan province, villagers went to the scene armed with sacks to take the fruit home.

Police tried in vain to dissuade them from taking the apples. They arrested three suspected looters and are investigating another three people. Only two tons of apples were left at the scene.

The incidents sparked heated debate on how people should behave.

zhang_yi@chinadaily.com.cn