Josephina Guzman was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

An underground explosion shot a nearly 300-pound manhole cover through the floor of a New York City bus directly beneath Guzman’s seat. The passenger sustained minor injuries from the freak accident, including bruises and a swollen ankle. 

Manhole cover rips through #MTA bus in the Bronx: http://t.co/I7RTHwanFL pic.twitter.com/1IWr6guyIs

— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) August 6, 2015

“In my 27 years, between driving and also investigating accidents, this is the first time I’ve seen a manhole cover come through the bottom of the bus,” Frank Austin, a Transport Workers Union official, told the New York Daily News. “(The driver) thought something exploded on the bus until he saw what it was.”

There is no explanation of the phenomenon yet, though it’s been speculated that the driver rolled over the cover, dislodging it and shooting it into the underside of the bus. However, union officials find this unlikely.

“That would be a good one. A bus tire cannot dislodge a manhole,” Austin said.

This unexplained manhole explosion is not the lone exception in New York. In early May of this year, two manholes and two gratings exploded in Manhattan, with fire, smoke and an acrid odor reported. Another fiery manhole explosion occurred in Midtown Manhattan a few months later in July.

Exploding manhole cover rips through NYC bus floor, slams seated passenger http://t.co/XtoLG6kSWk @Brynn4NY pic.twitter.com/Mm6uRX1H6j

— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) August 6, 2015

 

Woman riding on bus left with swelling and bruising after manhole explosion… http://t.co/UNRZklxEAV #InfoNdoroTweet pic.twitter.com/wrnT2ly9zR

— IG: NdoroTweetID™ (@NdoroTweet) August 7, 2015

Source: New York Daily News, NBC New York, CBS New York