SUNDERLAND, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – Drivers through one part of Hampshire County saw delays Thursday morning as authorities worked to wrangle several cows following a crash.

Melissa Sippel, spokesperson for the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, said emergency crews were called to the area of 716 Amherst Road, also known as Route 116, around 2 a.m. Thursday for a reported head-on crash.

A preliminary investigation reportedly indicates that a northbound vehicle hit a cow standing in the middle of the road and then collided head-on with a southbound vehicle.

In total, 11 people between the two vehicles were injured and taken to area hospitals. All of those people are expected to survive. The cow died at the scene.

Route 116, in the area of the crash, was closed for several hours, in part, due to efforts to wrangle several cows that escaped as a result of the crash. At one point Thursday morning, 19 cows were reportedly on the loose. MassDOT reported around 9:15 a.m. that Route 116 had reopened.

The crash remains under investigation by Sunderland Police, State Police detectives assigned to the D.A.’s office, the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, and the State Police Crime Scene Services Section.

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