A horrifying moment has been caught on camera that shows a remote propelled grenade (RPG) launcher exploding in the hands of a YouTuber during a failed test. The incident took place when Adam Knowles, also a US Army veteran, was shooting a video for the Ballistic High-Speed YouTube channel. Now recovering from the incident, he just watched the footage back for the first time. Mr Knowles informed the users that he is doing this for medical and educations purposes only.
The YouTuber said the devastating incident took place last month when the content creator was filming to assess "the dangers" of back-blast from a range of launchers.
Watch the video:
Footage showed Mr Knowles suddenly engulfed in flames as he fired a grenade from RPG-7.
A part of the launcher exploded immediately, sending his helmet flying from the shock. Mr Knowles was knocked unconscious in split second, even before reaching the ground.
The impact broke his jaw, fractured his skull, while leaving his body wounded with shrapnel and third-degree burns, according to Dexerto.
While playing back the footage, the YouTuber said he was doing "a lot better" but still has a "solid few months" of recovery left to get back to relative normalcy.
In the video, the YouTuber explained how the shoot consisted of multiple launcher tests, and the RPG-7 happened to be the "final shot of the day".
He said that despite running all the usual safety checks and being as cautious as possible, something went wrong and in the blink of an eye, Mr Knowles was "on the ground".
"The Rocket Launcher basically exploded," he said.
The crew called the emergency number 911 and the YouTuber was airlifted to the nearest hospital. During this period, Mr Knowles said he had "no recollection of the incident after the countdown".
Towards the end of the video, he claimed the explosion will not stop him from creating more videos in the future.
