They didn’t need any ambulances, but gridlocked drivers could have done with some fries.

What looked like a potentially grim mess on US Interstate 80 in Reno, Nevada, was the aftermath of a crash involving a semi-trailer truck hauling thousands of bottles of Heinz ketchup which halted traffic for an hour.

The Reno Gazette-Journal said no-one was hurt when the truck driver swerved to avoid another vehicle and hit a bridge.

Sgt Janay Sherven of the Nevada Highway Patrol said there was “red everywhere”, adding: “No bodies, no people, just ketchup.” (PA)

Sinkhole swallows man, house

A man screamed for help and disappeared as a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house in Florida yesterday.

His brother told rescue crews he heard a loud crash near midnight and then heard his brother screaming.

Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said: “When he got there, there was no bedroom left. There was no furniture”.

“All he saw was a piece of the mattress sticking up. We put engineering equipment into the sinkhole and didn’t see anything compatible with life... The entire house is on the sinkhole.”

There’s been no contact with the man since then, and neighbours on both sides of the home have been evacuated. The sinkhole was estimated to be about nine metres across. (AP)

Brain damage from heading the ball

Heading the ball may damage the brains of football players, research has shown.

The US study shows evidence of mental impairment caused by repeatedly bouncing a football off the head.

Scientists say the effects suggest “mild traumatic brain injury of the frontal lobes” and point out that more research is needed to determine whether the changes are long-lasting or temporary. (PA)

Dried caterpillars for consumption

Border Force officers have seized 94 kilos of dried insects at Gatwick Airport.

The discovery, which is among the largest of its kind at the airport, was made after a 22-year-old man travelling from Burkina Faso via Istanbul was stopped at the South Terminal.

Officers checked his luggage and found tens of thousands of dried caterpillars shrink-wrapped in cellophane, which had been packed in bags.

The man claimed that they were for personal consumption and that they were to be used as food. The insects were seized by Border Force because they breach controls on the importation of products of animal origin. (PA)