Hairdresser Serge Mahdessian was working in his hair salon in Beirut’s Ashrafieh district, about 8,500 miles from his wife Melbourne, when it was destroyed by an explosion.

CNN reported.

“It was so chaotic, it was like something out of a dream,” Mahdessian told CNN over the phone. “People running, holding their arms, their legs — there was so much blood,” he said. “I could have died today, instead I was only hurt a little on my hands because I was quick to run inside,” he added.

Phone footage taken by Mahdessian shows crumpled cars lining a street strewn with broken glass and rubble.

His wife, Deana Torus, called her husband at night after hearing the news about the massive explosion.

“I immediately called Serge, he was screaming over the phone, I was crying. He was terribly shocked, but he was fine, despite the injury to his hands, he escaped by running into the bathroom,” said the woman. “I was worried. My body was shaking, from despair, from the thought that I could do nothing.”

The news outlet writes that the young couple got married last year, after five and a half years together, but living separately. Serge’s visa application, for which he has so far paid about $ 7,000, has been repeatedly rejected.

Additionally the Covid-19 travel bans have piled on the misery.