Lion's bite flattens car's front tire in South Africa

Oct. 12 (UPI) -- A teen visitor to a South African national park captured video of a lion approaching another car and biting into a tire, popping it.

Sean Oberine, 13, recorded video of lions that wandered into the road while he and his family were driving to the Tshokwane Picnic Site in Kruger National Park.

The video, posted to YouTube by Kruger Sightings on Tuesday, shows a young lion approach a car stopped in the opposite direction on the road.

"We were laughing and joking that the lion would scratch the paint or in some way damage the vehicle," Oberine wrote. "I had been filming the entire interaction but wasn't prepared for what I captured thereafter."

The footage shows the lion bite down on one of the vehicle's front tire, causing it to explode with air.

"In the midst of our childish jokes, there was an almighty bang and the lion investigating the car ran off in fright. It took a second to register what had happened but once we had, the intensity of laughter tripled," Oberine wrote.

The teen wrote that the lion's antics turned into an awkward encounter with a classmate.

"To my shock and horror, one of the people in the now three-wheeled car was a prefect at my school, an older cool boy who I otherwise would never have interacted with outside of a school context. Once the shock had faded, my dad began helping to change the tire. We made sure we were as far away from the lions as a flat tire could manage. The tire changing went as smoothly as could be expected in such a setting and we managed to make it to breakfast no more than 3 and a half hours late and with an additional three people."