A piece of “rubber testing equipment” emerges from the nether realm to ruin a Northern Irish couple’s Tuesday
March 16, 2024 at 21:01
–> 
–>
The passengers of a car in Northern Ireland had their Tuesday ruined after a piece of construction equipment resembling a ball of sorts came out of nowhere and slammed into their vehicle. Fortunately, neither occupant was injured.
The incident took place on March 12 in Newtonabbey, near Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. Dashcam footage of the event reveals that the pair was driving cautiously through a construction site on Shore Road around 5:00 p.m. Suddenly, a large black ball shot up from the side of the road and collided with their vehicle.
While some commentators of the viral video, who rightly likened the scene to something out of the Final Destination horror movie series, suggested it was a wrecking ball, it’s clear that wasn’t the case. If it were, the size and weight of such an object would have completely destroyed the vehicle.
Read: SF Airplane Loses Tire In The Air, Crushes Cars In Parking Lot
Instead, Phoenix Energy, the company in charge of the work site, described the object as “a piece of rubber testing equipment” that is commonly used in projects like this. Although no footage of the aftermath of the incident exists, the impact of the object on the car was severe enough to knock the dashcam off its mounts.
Video Reddit
The incident was also shocking enough to terrify the people inside the vehicle, and you can see why. Even upon rewatching the video, it’s hard to tell exactly where the piece of construction equipment originated from.
“The construction work is being carried out by our primary contractor, and we know their representatives have been in contact with the driver and the passenger,” Phoenix Energy told Belfast Live. “While those in the car were understandably shaken, we understand that they were not injured.”
The company says it is now carrying out an “urgent investigation” into the issue to figure out what went wrong. It says that it will cooperate with all relevant authorities, including the police, who say they are aware of the incident. The company says it was carrying out essential reinforcement work to its network.
This incident is a reminder that sometimes you have good luck, sometimes you have bad luck, and sometimes you kind of have both. While there’s no doubt the people in the vehicle were tremendously unlucky to suffer the incredibly unlikely fate of being hit by this piece of equipment, they were at least lucky to escape without injury.
