Man Dies After Homemade Bomb Explodes In Car On Hitting Speed Bump

A 43-year-old Australian man died after a homemade bomb detonated inside his car as the vehicle went over a speed bump.

The incident occurred in the Hallam neighborhood of Melbourne on Saturday. The deceased man was a former soldier from Dandenong. Security footage of the incident showed a flash of an explosion on the driver's side of the vehicle. The car continued to travel down the road for several yards before hitting a parked vehicle at the corner of Homewood Boulevard and Young Road, 7News reported.

The emergency crew responded to the scene around 11.40 a.m. and found the man’s body inside the car. The streets and the surrounding area were blocked off for at least 24 hours as the bomb squad carefully removed the explosive device and secured the area.

"Bomb Response Unit members attended due to explosive items located inside the vehicle and it took a considerable amount of time for the Bomb Response Unit to render these items safe," police were cited as saying by Associated Press.

"They had the streets blocked off and police pretty much controlling everything, there was (sic) 15 police cars all around the place," a local was quoted as saying by the outlet.

"I just heard a big, loud bang at 11 a.m. and looked out the window of my house and saw a car had gone through the roundabout and hadn’t braked or anything like that and crashed," Ben Augel, who witnessed the explosion, told the outlet.

The man left the home of his ex-partner shortly before the explosion. It is unclear where he was headed.

Police said that the circumstances surrounding the man's death are under investigation by the Arson and Explosives Squad, according to the AP report. Officials said they do not consider the man a crime victim.

Authorities believe that the explosion could have been worse given its proximity to a senior care facility and other residential homes.

Friends and family visited the explosion site to pay their respect to the deceased man, who was also a father. "Dad my soldier 4 ever" was spray-painted across a wall near the site as a tribute.