Two garbage trucks were involved in a serious collision on a secondary road outside the Cretan port of Hania yesterday morning while trying to avoid a herd of sheep that had wandered into their path.

One truck had been on its way to dump trash at a local landfill, the other en route to collect trash from the streets.

The collision was so violent that one of the drivers had to be cut out of the crushed front of his vehicle, firemen said.

It appears that one of the drivers swerved in an attempt to avoid the animals but smashed headlong into the other truck whose driver had not reacted so quickly.

One of the drivers was injured, though not seriously, and both trucks were damaged.

It was unclear whether any harm had come to the sheep, whose presence on the road without a shepherd remained a mystery.