May 26 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A report by the Associated Press describes a horde of frogs which forced officials to close down a major highway in Thessaloniki, Greece. Some readers may remember Thessaloniki as the home of the Thessalonian church which Paul wrote to in the New Testament. The road remained closed for two hours.

Giorgos Thanoglou of the traffic police of Thessaloniki stated that millions of the frogs covered the tarmac on Wednesday, not far from the town of Langada, which is 12 miles east of Thessaloniki. “There was a carpet of frogs,” he added. The road had to be closed after the frogs caused three car accidents in which no humans were injured. Many frogs did not fair so well. Police suspected that maybe the frogs were looking for food.

British scientists, however, may have another theory. In a study released just last month, in April of 2010, UK biologist from Open University and others showed that frogs often “predicted” earthquakes by their actions. In fact, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake which occurred in Italy on April 6,2009, killing over 300 people, and leaving over 40,000 homeless, was foretold by the actions of nearby frogs for five days prior to the quake. Over 96% of the male frogs in the area began to gather up, and hundreds of frogs fled together, just days before the quake hit.

Another incident in 2008, in which a major earthquake hit China, was also predicted by a mass migration of frogs. On May 5th, 2008 there was a huge migration of frogs, which left the citizens of central China with a bad feeling. They insisted that it was a bad omen, but the government told them the frog’s migration was normal. On May 12, an earthquake hit central China killing 12,000 people.

The frogs are not alone. A few seismologists are stating that their analysis shows a major earthquake could occur in Greece or Turkey within the next 24 hours.