A man is lucky to be alive after a freak accident took place in Queens, New York City on Thursday.
Surveillance footage shows Barry West heading to pay a cell phone bill when he is walking on the sidewalk near what appears to be a smoking set of grates. Suddenly, the sidewalk explodes underneath West, throwing him off his feet as he is engulfed in the flames of the blast.
West somehow manages to get back to his feet and walk away from the spot of the blast.
Miraculously, West only suffered second-degree burns. He was treated at a nearby hospital where a friend says he is shaken by what happened but is in good spirits.
"You can see how God just picked him out of that fire. He staggered. He had his hands up and rubbed his head and fell. Just a miracle. Nobody but God could do that. Not a man," says Carrol Hamblin.
Source: NYPost.com