Residents in Dongtai, East China's Jiangsu Province, plunder frozen pork that was scattered on a road after a traffic accident. Photo: Screenshot of a video posted by Xiaoxiang Morning Post

The government of Dongtai, East China's Jiangsu Province, apologized to the public on Monday after some residents plundered frozen pork that was scattered on a road after a traffic accident.

The accident happened on August 4 when a heavy van transporting 10 tons of pork on an expressway suffered a rear-end crash, causing seven tons of its cargo to fall off on a village road in Dongtai, which was later plundered by nearby villagers.

The van driver, surnamed Qiu, revealed on social platform Sina Weibo that he would suffer economic losses of 300,000 yuan ($43,097) for the missing pork, as the insurance company would only compensate him for the remaining three tons of pork.

Netizens criticized the villagers and claimed that their behavior was nothing short of theft. One netizen commented that if these thieves manage to evade punishment, they would resort to robbery next time.

The Dongtai police said that they have carried out an investigation and part of the scattered pork has been recovered, adding that authorities will strictly deal with suspects in accordance with law.

The information office of the Dongtai government apologized on its WeChat account, saying it felt remorse over the incident and will accept criticism and supervision from the media and netizens.