(WFLA) – A Minnesota woman was knocked off her feet when her washing machine “exploded,” KARE reported.

Sara Van Beck, a mother of five, said she heard a “high, howl, whistling noise” coming from her Whirlpool Duet washing machine.

Van Beck ran toward the washer to investigate and said the machine was shaking and howling as it neared the end of its spin cycle. Then it exploded.

“It sounded like a bomb. It was so surreal,” Van Beck told CBS News.

“From the force, I fell backwards and hit my head,” she told KARE.

“I got as far as the utility sink and it exploded, sending ball bearings and pieces at me,” Van Beck said in a Facebook post. “My feet went out from under me and I dropped on our bench and cabinets hitting my head pretty hard.”

Van Beck said she was knocked unconscious and woke up on the laundry room floor.

“I remember waking up. My head hurt. I couldn’t move,” Van Beck said.

Using her Apple Watch, she asked Siri to call her husband, who rushed home and took her to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with a concussion and a sinus cavity injury, she said.

Van Beck reported the incident and said she was contacted by a representative from Whirlpool’s safety department, which agreed to replace the washer and dryer.

“We are in contact with the consumer and are in the process of exchanging the washer (and the dryer) so we can analyze what happened,” Whirlpool spokesman Kristine Sherman confirmed to CBS News. “Although we cannot speculate about what happened with this particular product, Whirlpool is committed to delivering safe, innovative products to consumers.”

“It could have been a lot worse,” Van Beck told CBS News. “If it would have been one of my children, that could have been deadly.”WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON: 

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