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Bombing victim: 'Honest to God, I didn't think anything of it'

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) – A victim of the Boston Marathon bombings says he never could have imagined a bomb would have been detonated at the event.

At a press conference at Tufts Medical Center Tuesday, Nicholas Yanni said he and his wife were watching a friend finish the race in front of Marathon Sports just before the blast.

Yanni said he was standing on a stool to see his friend and when he stepped down an explosion rocked Boston's Back Bay.

"Honest to God, I didn't think anything of it. I thought it might have been some bad fireworks," said Yanni. "It didn't even dawn on me that there would be an explosive device or bomb there."

Yanni said he was about 10 feet away from the blast and said the force of it hit both he and his wife, Lee Ann, spraying them with shrapnel. He said some shrapnel cut Lee Ann's leg open.

Yanni recalled ripping shirts off of racks to create a tourniquet for his injured wife, who was concerned about him.

"I'm OK, I'm OK, let me look at you," Yanni recalled his wife saying to him.

Having only suffered minor injuries, Yanni said he saw a woman whose leg had been severely damaged in the blast and tried to help her.

"I saw there was another lady that had collapsed because the back side of her right leg was hit. I was trying to help her," said Yanni.

In that time, he said he got separated from Lee Ann but was later able to find her near a medical tent.

"I was very fortunate," said Yanni.

The two were recovering in a shared room at Tufts.