A CompactFlash memory card accidentally mown down by a 44ton lorry during a photo shoot has survived with all pictures intact, according to the card?s maker SanDisk.

The SanDisk Ultra II CompactFlash card risked becoming even more compact than normal when it fell under the truck?s wheels during a calendar shoot for a haulage company.

Having already survived shoots documenting disasters including a tsunami and an earthquake it seems the card had dropped out of the pocket of the photographer, Jeff Gill, while he changed cards mid-shoot.

He had been lying on the ground taking a picture ?from the ground up?, against a backdrop of clear blue sky, explained a SanDisk spokesman who added: ?Jeff put the Ultra II CF card into his pocket while he loaded another into the camera and carried on shooting the truck. At the end of the shoot Jeff packed all his gear up and realised that he was a 1GB card down? when he walked back up the Tarmac he saw the card on the ground. It was somewhat knackered, with some Tarmac embedded in it, but he managed to get all the pictures – three hours worth – off the card with no problems.?

To recreate the shots ? which involved hiring a crane to hoist Jeff above the lorry – would have cost around £1,500, according to the photographer who was capturing the images for haulage company Hardstaff which is based in Nottinghamshire.

Picture credit: Jeff Gill