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Police: Horses on highway cause crash in Delaware

Two vehicles crashed early Saturday after a pair of horses wandered into a lane of traffic on a Delaware highway, state police said.

Two vehicles crashed early Saturday after a pair of horses wandered into a lane of traffic on a Delaware highway, state police said.

The horses, believed to be from a nearby farm, were in the right lane of U.S. Route 13 near Greenwood Road around 4:30 a.m., when they were struck by a 2013 Freightliner tractor trailer, according to investigators.

The tractor trailer was able to come to a controlled stop on the shoulder, but the impact of the crash caused the horses' carcasses to be thrown into the roadway, police said.

Moments later, the driver of a 2004 Nissan pickup truck swerved in an attempt to avoid striking the horses, which he thought were dead deer, police said.

The truck entered into the center median and overturned.

The driver and passenger, both 56-year-old men from Newark, Del., were taken to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital for the treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, according to investigators.

Police said the tractor trailer driver, a 33-year-old man from Fruitland, Md., was uninjured. His vehicle sustained only front-end damage.

The southbound lanes of U.S. 13 were closed for about two hours as workers from the state transportation department cleared debris from the roadway.

Police said they contacted the horses' owner, whose identity was not disclosed. It wasn't immediately clear how the horses ended up on the highway.