A welder miraculously walked away after his car exploded in a quiet New Jersey suburb on Monday morning — waking up residents to debris flying into their homes, according to authorities.
A 28-year-old man was inside his vehicle on Congressional Lane in Totowa, about 20 miles from Manhattan, around 5:30 a.m. when it was suddenly blown apart, the Totowa Police Department said in a statement.
The man was able to escape from the wrecked vehicle on his own and was taken to a local hospital for treatment and observation, cops said.
The victim, who is a welder, was alert and coherent when he emerged from the car, WABC reported. Authorities have not divulged what injuries he sustained.
A preliminary investigation revealed the explosion was likely caused by a leaking acetylene cylinder in the car’s trunk, police said.
Residents were woken up by their windows shattering, fences caving in and pieces of the blasted car careening into their homes on the tree-lined street following the blast, the outlet reported.
“We heard an explosion around 5:30 in the morning. It was very loud, it sounded like a giant boom, so that’s the first thing to say,” neighbor Sheldon Blaine told the local ABC affiliate station.
“And we got up, and we looked out the window, and we saw the remains of a car. And the car exploded, no fire, just a concussive blast,” Blaine said.
“Our house, our windows was facing the explosion, they are all blown in. There are pieces of the car inside of the house.”
Blaine added that he and his family would not be allowed to return to the home until the local buildings department could investigate possible structural damage.
The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, and the ATF were called in to investigate the incident.
Investigators do not suspect foul play in the explosion, and an investigation remains ongoing.
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