Boston Marathon survivor witnesses Texas explosion days later

A U.S. man who just barely missed the fatal Boston Marathon blast on Monday found himself just stone’s throw away from another a deadly explosion in Texas two days later.

Joe Berti participated in this year’s Boston Marathon to help with a charity event by Champions4Children, according to the Associated Press. Seconds after 43-year-old Berti crossed the finish line, he heard a loud explosion.

He said he “knew immediately” it was a bomb and thought about his wife Amy, who he thought might have been waiting near the finish line. It turned out that both Berti and his wife walked away without a scratch from the tragedy that claimed three lives and injured more than 180.

But Berti had a close run-in with another tragedy just days later in his home state of Texas.

He was heading home after a business meeting on Wednesday when he witnessed a black puff of smoke ahead to his left. His initial reaction: “You’ve got to be kidding!”

Berti drove closer to find a giant fireball with “a massive force that shook his car.”

Despite his experiences, Berti said he did not feel unlucky as people assumed. He said to the contrary, he felt “blessed that my wife could be 10 yards from the explosion and not have a scratch.”

His wife Amy joked that in order to avoid such close shaves they needed to “keep him moving” or he needed to “just stand in an open field.”



From news reports
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)