Lorry driver discovers his 24 tonnes of fruit have turned into juice

Mango-ing, going, gone! Lorry driver discovers his 24 tonnes of fruit have turned into juice

• Eric Everwijn, 54, drove the shipment of fruit 45km from Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Yellow liquid gushed out the container and splashed as it hit the pavement
• It is thought they were accidentally exposed to temperatures of 122F (50C)

A lorry driver filmed the moment he and his colleague were almost soaked when 24 tonnes of mango turned into juice in the back of his truck.

Eric Everwijn was asked to take the shipment of fruit on a 45km drive from Rotterdam, Netherlands, for the customer to inspect it.

In the video, the 54-year-old has stopped the lorry as liquid trickled out of the back.

His colleague begins to grapple with the handles of the container to open the door as Eric films the event.

As it becomes further ajar the yellow liquid gushes out and makes a splash as it hits the pavement.

The unnamed man continues to push against the door to stop himself being washed away in the ‘flood wave of juice’. 

Eric laughs nervously at the liquid as it continues to rapidly flow out, frothing and steaming as it hits the ground. 

The flow shows little sign of stopping even when the colleague decides to fully open the door to reveal the crates of mangoes.

The sodden boxes, which are usually stacked from floor-to-ceiling, sit limply after they had collapsed to just half their previous height. 

A lorry driver filmed the moment he and his colleague were almost soaked when 24 tonnes of mango turned into juice in the back of his truck 

He was asked to take the shipment of fruit on a 45km drive from Rotterdam, Netherlands, for the customer to inspect it

It apparently took more than five hours for all of the juice to drain.    

The fruit was transported in a refrigerated container but Eric believes an error in transit meant the mangoes were exposed to temperatures of more than 122F (50C).    

Eric, who lives in Wouwse Plantage, Netherlands, said: ‘It’s pretty unusual if liquid leaks from the back doors through the seals. It smelt too.

‘It smelled like fruit. It wasn’t water or condensed fluid. No, it was obviously something that wasn’t right.

‘These containers are unloaded off the ship and we park our trucks in special places and they put the container onto our truck. We have to lock the container to our truck.

‘That’s when I noticed it was leaking. Normally a refrigerated container, which is what it was, are sealed really well inside to keep the temperature controlled. They are sealed with rubber and are really hard to open.

At first liquid he spotted liquid trickling out of the back of the container. One of his colleagues begins to grapple with the handles as he decides to open the door and allow more juice to gush out

‘I went to the front of the container to put it in place and lock it to my trailer, and it was literally pouring out. It was like a faucet was open.

‘I took a picture of that and called my boss. I said: “This isn’t right”. He then contacted the customer and they said to just deliver it.

‘When I opened the door, I knew I had a problem so I didn’t really want to open the door because I was afraid of a flood wave and getting stuck in this juice.

‘But these doors don’t open very easily anyway so you have to put some force into it because they’re almost vacuumed shut.

‘I opened it a little bit and it came gushing out. I stepped away from it a little bit and started videoing it. The supervisor said: “Wow I haven’t seen this in 25 years I’ve been doing this.”‘

The sodden boxes of fruit, which are usually stacked from floor-to-ceiling, had collapsed with the rotting mangoes to just half their previous height.

Eric, who is originally from Texas, US, said: ‘It’s a shame. I actually like mangoes so I was disappointed.

‘We opened the doors and they were all shrunk, wet and everything fell apart. The fruit was completely rotten and green and furry, and it was a total loss.

The sodden boxes of fruit, which are usually stacked from floor-to-ceiling, had collapsed to just half their previous height

The fruit was transported in a refrigerated container but Eric believes an error in transit meant the mangoes were exposed to temperatures of more than 122F (50C)

‘It was 24 tonnes of mangoes. I’m not sure where they came from but usually somewhere in South America.

‘I picked it up from the port in Rotterdam and dropped it off at a fruit and vegetable distributor. It was actually only about a 45km drive.

‘My trailer is equipped with weight sensors and we can see how it’s distributed on all my axles.

‘I noticed something wasn’t right because it wasn’t usual. I knew something was wrong.

‘I’m just happy we reported it as soon as I got the container at the port. It’s guesswork but that must have happened somewhere in transit.’

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