A man in Brazil got the shock of his life when he ended up accidentally blowing up his entire lawn in a desperate bid to get rid of a cockroach infestation in his back yard.
Cesar Schmitz and his wife were so frustrated by the insect invasion in their garden that Cesar decided the only way to eliminate them was to set fire to the grass.
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However, he didn't quite anticipate how intense his efforts would be after he threw some gasoline into the hole for good measure.
Home security footage from last Friday (18 October) shows the moment the explosion ripped through the soil, completely destroying the neatly-laid lawn - sending huge chunks of earth and the garden table flying up into the air, while two petrified dogs bolted.
Thankfully (and perhaps miraculously), no one was hurt in the incident, although Cesar does realise things could have turned out much worse for him.
Cesar, a 48-year-old truck driver from Enéas Marques in south Brazil, said his wife had begged him to solve their critter problem.
He said: "My wife complained that there was a lot of roaches invading our garden.
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"She is scared of them and begged me to destroy their nest under the ground once and for all."
At first, he tried using a poisonous spray for killing beetles, but the pests were merely startled by the product and started emerging in their droves from their burrow.
This is when Cesar took a more drastic approach, lighting a match to set fire to the hole, and also lobbing in a cap full of gasoline.
He even had to step forward onto the grass three times to throw lit matches into the hole, the first two attempts proving unsuccessful.
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Seconds after his third try, the plan backfires rather dramatically - as methane gas contained in the insect repellent (which conserves and adds pressure to the product), had accumulated in lethal doses in an air pocket under the lawn.
That lid full of petrol obviously only added to the combustion.
The flame ignited the gasses and exploded everything within its path, leaving Cesar looking on in horror at the extent of the damage.
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He added: "I wish I'd thought this through before. I had no idea that this could happen. Luckily the damage was only contained on the lawn.
"If I had been standing closer or the table had hit me it could have been fatal."
Local police confirmed they have launched an investigation into the incident after examining the footage, but said they didn't envisage any charges being made for endangering lives.
Cesar, meanwhile, admitted he's still clearing up the mess and said he will have to replant his lawn.
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However, the cockroach infestation has now been solved, so swings and roundabouts eh?
Featured Image Credit: FocusOn NewsTopics: Viral, World News, News, Brazil