Caught on camera: Dramatic moment huge fireball narrowly misses pedestrian after exploding out of pavement in London street

This is the dramatic moment a huge fireball bursts from a pavement, narrowly missing a passerby standing just yards from the blast.
The explosion was said to have shaken nearby buildings and left a gaping crater at the side of the road.
Video footage shows one astonished bystander running from the scene as flames shot from the ground.

Eruption: Video footage shows the moment a fireball bursts out of the pavement, just yards from a pedestrian

Blast off: The ball of flame explodes out of the ground, sending a plume of smoke rising into the air

Too close for comfort: The pedestrian starts to react as the fireball grows menacingly towards him 

Amazing! Man's narrow escape after explosion on London road

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it was looking into the explosion which is believed to have been caused by a fault on the underground electricity network yesterday morning.
Cables at that spot, on Pimlico Road in central London, carry up to 11,000 volts.


Nearly 2,000 people in the area saw their power interrupted following the explosion.
An HSE spokesman said: 'We are aware of this and we are making inquiries into what happened.'

Legging it: The pedestrian runs for his life as the fireball disappears in the blink of an eye

Probe: The Health and Safety Executive said it was looking into the explosion, which is believed to have been caused by a fault on the underground electricity network

A spokesman for UK Power Networks, which maintains the electricity distribution network in the region, said: 'At 10.25am yesterday a fault on our underground electricity network in Pimlico Road interrupted power supplies to 1,867 customers.
'UK Power Networks engineers rerouted supplies to 861 customers within ten minutes and all supplies were reconnected by 1.55pm.
'Safety is our top priority and the cause of this incident is being investigated.
'We apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused by the power cut and our staff restored all supplies as quickly as safely possible.'

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