This is the dramatic moment a family came within inches of getting crushed by a massive falling tree as they walked past it.
Ben and Shelly Kerstein, who were walking with a relative in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, branded their escape a miracle after they managed to dodge the tumbling tree.
The family of three had been taking a stroll on Saturday when they miraculously survived the ordeal, which was captured in shocking surveillance footage.
The video shows the trio walking along 59th Street and 20th Avenue while they casually chat and take in their surroundings.
As they walked by unsuspectingly, the old tree began to lean forward.
Luckily, the family noticed the breaking bark and quickly ran from under the falling tree, making it to the other side before it hit the ground.
Crashing across the pavement and into the road, the thick trunk slammed down as the family turned back in horror to catch a glimpse of the fallen tree.
Shelly can be seen jumping back in surprise as the bark bounced from the floor due to the impact of the fall, before rolling over and coming to a standstill.
A family of three were seen in surveillance footage walking along 59th Street and 20th Avenue, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, as an old tree began to break and fall
Luckily, Ben and Shelly Kerstein, and their relative, managed to survive the ordeal as they ran to the other side of the pavement while the tree crashed down
The trio looked back in horror following the fall and the tree trunk was seen blocking the street and protruding into the road
A view of the massive tree before it fell on Saturday
The family have since credited divine intervention for their lucky escape.
‘The first reaction was shock, and the second, I realized this was from God and God saved us,’ Ben Kerstein told WPIX-TV News.
‘So, all we could do was dance and thank God for saving us in that moment.’
Shelly said she and her husband had actually noticed the tree as they were walking down the street, and recalled saying: ‘Oh wow, check out that tree, it looks like it’s a thousand years old’ before they continued their journey.
‘We ran and the whole thing splintered to pieces, and because it was so old, it splintered to dust,’ she told WPIX.
‘As you can see we are just standing in complete and utter shock about what happened.
‘We’re Jews and that was no doubt God,’ she added.
‘There’s no question, he put us there for a reason, to have that happen right before our eyes and save us for a reason too.’
According to the outlet the tree was located on private property and the homeowner declined to comment on the quality of the tree before it fell.
