A Brazilian man savagely attacked by two large dogs claims he is only alive thanks to the explosion of his phone in his pocket.

Having your phone explode in your pants pocket is almost never a good thing, but in very specific situations, it can literally be a lifesaver. Case in point, a bizarre story from Cascavel, in Brazil’s Paraná state, where a local man named Reinaldo was recently attacked by two dogs on his way to work.

A car mechanic by training, Reinaldo was walking to his workplace earlier this month when he was intercepted by two large dogs. Before he could even realize the kind of danger he was in, the man was fending off the vicious canines and fighting for his life.

“One of them went for my throat. I hit it, but then it tried to bite my leg, but it only caught the phone in my pocket, and the battery exploded. It was dangerous, but it saved me. It was bizarre,” Reinaldo recalled. “This phone was only 20 days old, but it saved my life.”

The phone explosion burned through the young mechanic’s shorts and caused burns to his leg, but it also surprised the aggressive dogs, which bought Reinaldo valuable time. He was able to get away and call the police.

Despite the life-threatening ordeal, the Brazilian man decided not to press charges against the dogs’ owner, because they had apologized to him for the incident andagreed to cover both the cost of the medical treatments and of the damaged smartphone.