WATCH: Driver miraculously survives a huge smokestack collapsing on top of backhoe

A smokestack demolition in Pell City, Alabama didn’t quite go according to plan on Tuesday.

After two failed attempts to bring down the 113-year-old stack with explosives, an excavator was brought in to knock it down.

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But that risky move nearly came with a horrible cost as the smokestack fell on top of the backhoe. Luckily, excavator Tim Phyfer came away unharmed.

“It got dark real quick,” Phyfer told WVMT. “I’ve had some things go wrong, but not like this.”