Motorists risked their lives to scoop up thousands of coins spilled on a highway after the vehicle carrying the currency overturned, reports said Wednesday.

Dozens of people abandoned their cars along the side of the North-South Expressway, one of the country's main transport arteries, and frantically filled their pockets, helmets and plastic bags with the coins.

The melee caused a traffic jam on either side of the overturned four-wheel drive vehicle, which left RM70,000 (nearly $23,000) in coins strewn across the road on Tuesday.

"Fortunately, both of us escaped with minor injuries," said 28-year-old driver Zairulhisham Mansor, who along with a friend had been transporting the coins to shops in the resort town of Malacca.

The New Straits Times said that the coin-hunters ignored police demands to clear the road.

- AFP