Terrified pigs caused traffic chaos with a nearly 9-mile traffic jam after they fled down a Spanish motorway when their livestock lorry crashed and the cab caught fire.

The lorry had flipped onto its side ripping its backloading doors wide open on the AP-7, in Santa Perpetua de Mogoda, near Barcelona, in north-eastern Spain, on 31st July.

Grim video footage shows pig carcasses scattered up and down the motorway while others appear to be seriously injured but alive.

Some can be seen staggering along the motorway lanes, while others were feared still trapped in the container as the cab of the truck bursts into flames.

A red car – believed to have been involved in the smash – is also seen badly damaged on the road.

A later video clip shot from a helicopter shows the surviving pigs after they had been corralled into a makeshift pen.

The crash caused a 14-kilometre (nearly 9-mile) traffic jam on a motorway that was already packed with holidaymakers, according to local media.

The local Servei Catala de Transit (SCT) transport authority said the lorry’s cabin caught fire after the HGV overturned.

Eight firefighter crews and a helicopter were sent to the scene.

The Red Cross and the local police handed out water to the motorists stuck in their cars in the blazing summer sun, they said.

The pigs were finally transported away from the scene at around 9 pm, with the motorway reopening at around 10 pm.