Driver badly burned after crashing into electrical box
SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- An electrical box hit by a car caused a series of explosions and sent one victim to the hospital with up to 70 percent of his body burned.
Several witnesses said two men were in the area to do some work when they crashed into a power box. The men went up to the box to try to fix it and the box blew up, leaving one man badly burned. "First there was a big explosion but no fire, so they tried to see what happened and tried to touch it and then it exploded again, and he got on fire. His hands were bleeding," said Giovanni Palacios.
Miami Dade Fire Rescue responded to reports of the incident in the area of 9457 SW 146th Ave. Air rescue transported the one patient to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he is in critical condition.
Roland Sanchez, a Miami Beach firefighter who lives on the street ran to the victim's aid. "I ran over, grabbed the guy, put him on the grass, me and someone else. I don't know if it was the guy that he was working with or another neighbor, and then the other person left, and I was patting him out trying to put him out," said Sanchez.
Residents said the blown transformer ignited just about everything nearby. "There was a big ball of fire. Two cars on fire, my car and somebody else's car," said one resident. "It hurts to see somebody get badly burned like that."
According to FPL, the power has since been restored to all customers in the area.
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