A Manhattan man was not injured but four head of cattle were killed in an early morning tractor trailer accident on Interstate 70 near Abilene.

The accident occurred at approximately 3:39 a.m. in the westbound lane near mile marker 278.

Michael Martin, 29, of Manhattan was hauling 61 head of cattle to Leoti in western Kansas when the truck moved onto the outside shoulder and rolled onto it’s side in the north ditch.

Trooper Tanner Gleason with the Kansas Highway Patrol explained that Martin was able to walk away from the accident but the 61 head of cattle were trapped in the trailer.

“The firefighters from Dickinson County, they cut a hole through the trailer and corralled the cows into a corral that was brought out by a vet out of Abilene,” says Gleason.

Of the 61 head of cattle four were killed as a result of the accident. A second tractor trailer was brought in to transport the remaining cattle to another location. The outside lane of westbound I-70 was closed for approximately one hour.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation.