VIDEO: Miraculous escape for mother and her two children after manhole explosion

A camera outside Abington Supermarket in Wellingborough Road, Northampton, filmed the moment an electrical fault caused the explosion in the pavement next to a cashpoint being used by the family.

The force of the blast ripped part of the newsagent’s shop sign down, which narrowly avoided colliding with the head of the young boy.

Emergency services were called out to the incident shortly after 8am on Tuesday and the mother was treated by the ambulance service.

An East Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “An ambulance attended to treat a woman who had been walking in the area with two children when the cover flew into the air, but there were no serious injuries.”

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Fire Service said the cause of the explosion was an electrical fault in an underground box.