Barry West may be staying away from sidewalk grates for a while. The 57-year-old New York dad was walking to pay his cellphone bill on Thursday afternoon when he was injured by an underground explosion in Queens, NBC News reports. NBC New York has the footage that shows West nonchalantly strolling in the St. Albans neighborhood and approaching a grate with smoke coming out of it; suddenly the blast erupted, spewing flames and throwing West to the ground.
West can be seen crawling and stumbling to safety after the explosion. He was taken to Nassau University Medical Center, where he was found to have suffered second-degree burns. He's said to be stunned but in good spirits, considering what he went through. "Just a miracle," a friend tells the network of West's escape. "Nobody but God could do that," she added, per the New York Post. Utility company Con Edison says it's looking into what happened, telling NBC in a statement it has "regret" for the incident and that it wishes West "a full and fast recovery." (More explosion stories.)
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