Monster Truck Tire Flies into Crowd at Finnish Rally After Mechanical Failure

Due to a wild stroke of luck, no one was killed at a Finnish monster truck rally Saturday when one of the vehicle's axles broke and sent a giant wheel barreling into the crowd.

According to RT.com, the incident occurred during the 2015 Power Truck Show, an annual monster truck rally held at the PowerPark in Kauhava, Finland. 

Video of the accident is a long, slow burn to the moment of calamity (I've saved you the wait with a time stamp).

Warning: Video contains an alarming clash of humanity and rubber:

Bill Hughes/Associated Press

Finnish driver Vesa Kivimaki brings his Raging Bull truck into the field, opening up his routine with roughly 40 minutes of idling. He then begins a series of rather slow, unspectacular passes through the course.

After a few laps, a commercial truck is driven out and positioned in front of a jump. Far off on the other side of the field, you can see someone walk out to Kivimaki and likely give him some advice on his approach.

Now, I am not a monster truck rally connoisseur. I don't know if coming out and sitting for minutes on an otherwise clear course is business as usual. But between Kivimaki's palpable cautiousness and consultation with people on the ground, it feels as if there were some concerns in the air before and during this run.

In any case, Kivimaki finally made his jump, coming down hard after clearing the truck and snapping the front axle, sending his front right tire rolling into a crowd shielded only by a low, portable metal fence.

The tire injured six, rolled over the fence, hit a van and fell onto a number of people. RT.com reports two small children were among those injured, and several people were taken to the hospital for treatment.

The vehicle was said to have passed a pre-show inspection, but clearly, things were not up to snuff for the demands of a flat fall from such a height.

In summation: Don't go to monster truck rallies—particularly ones where you stand at ground level with nothing but 50 pounds of skinny metal rails between you and disaster.

Dan is on Twitter. Listen to the crowd. Maybe two people even blinked.