More than 20 tons of squid spilled on to a Rhode Island highway during a traffic accident, creating hours of delays for motorists and a foul stench as crews worked in baking sunshine to scrape up the remains of the fast-decaying cephalopods.

The incident occurred Sunday morning in Narragansett when the driver of a tractor-trailer transporting the squid failed to make a turn, and the vehicle fell on to its side, the town’s police department said in a statement, reported by ABC News.

“At the time of the incident, the fully loaded trailer was transporting squid to a processing facility out of town,” the statement said. “A substantial portion of the squid fell onto the roadway.”

It said there were “significant traffic disruptions and an extended road closure” from about 9.30am until 5.15pm.

Afternoon temperatures in Rhode Island on Sunday rose above 80F (27C) as fire department personnel joined crews toiling in the heat to scrape the remains from the road surface using mechanical loaders.

One resident, Richard Stevens, told NBC News affiliate WJAR that the stench quickly pervaded the local area.

“Squid has a distinctive odor to it,” he said. “I’m a fisherman and I use squid for bait. I’m quite used to it, but it can be very foul-smelling especially if it lies on the road and stays there for a while.”

The driver and a passenger in the truck were not injured. ABC reported that the driver was cited by Rhode Island state police for failure to secure a load.

Rhode Island is a regional hub of the commercial squid farming industry, with Narragansett as its “pulse”, according to WJAR in a 2023 article about a lawsuit opposing a windfarm project.

Millions of pounds of longfin and shortfin squid pass annually through Rhode Island ports for distribution nationwide, and calamari is the official state appetizer.