A motorcyclist ended up in the hospital with critical injuries after the highway underneath him buckled, sending him into air and 15 feet down the highway.

Associated Press says the motorcyclist has been traveling at high speed when the pavement began to buckle due to a gas leak. He was unable to avoid colliding with the damaged section of the highway and was literally catapulted through the air.

“There was a motorist, one individual on a motorcycle and one individual in a car, that were proceeding west-bound on I-20 when they saw [the buckled road], but it was too late for them to avert it, so they actually went up the broken-up concrete in an upward fashion — as if they were going up in a jump.”

Capt. Eric Jackson, a spokesperson for the DeKalb Country Fire Rescue Department says.

KDVR reports that fire officials later said crews were pumping concrete into old, abandoned gas lines under the freeway and there was some sort of malfunction that caused a build-up of air pressure. The air pressure eventually caused the ground under the roadway to surge upward.

According to CBS46 channel, at this point some westbound lanes are back open on I-20 after all lanes were previously closed between Flat Shoals Road and Gresham Road in DeKalb County when the interstate buckled.

Check out the video report.
CBS46 News