Exactly what caused yesterday's bizarre PATH accident—in which five people were hurt when an "up" escalator suddenly decided to go "down" at the Exchange Place PATH station—remains unclear. And while we wait for an explanation, survivors—including the man who shot a mesmerizing video of the incident—have come out to tell their stories: “My heart was racing. I was terrified,” one rider recalled. But on the plus side it could have been much worse.

"All of a sudden, the escalator suddenly changed directions. It didn’t stop, it just started going right down and people screamed. I instantly jumped onto the side railing between the two escalators and I could see people piling on top of each other at the bottom," 23-year-old Brian Lafond recalled to CBS. And he wasn't the only one to jump. "You see me basically on the rail. I jumped onto the rail and was holding on while the escalator slipped backwards and picked up momentum," commuter Michael Nochimson added.

Luckily nobody was seriously injured in the pile-up at the bottom of the escalator (though three riders were taken to a hospital just in case) but the cause of the incident is still unknown. In a statement, PATH says that

officials are looking into the cause of today’s escalator incident at Exchange Place, including whether Superstorm Sandy related effects played a role. As a precaution, PATH has suspended escalator service at Exchange Place through tomorrow morning. Agents will be on hand tonight and tomorrow to direct customers to the stairs and elevators. In addition, workers are reviewing all PATH escalators throughout the system.

Which is all well and good, but what do you do if you find yourself in a similar situation? "The word pray comes to mind, because there’s really not much you can do," escalator expert Patrick Carrajat told CBS. "The problem is when one person or two people fall. That’s when the pile-ups begin. That’s when you get the broken bones, or the scrapes, or whatever types of injuries you’re going to get." So the maybe we'll stick to the stairs?

Meanwhile, this isn't the only recent smack in the face at riders from the Port Authority. "This escalator debacle is the latest episode showcasing the PATH's ineptitude," Alex Rodriguez, the finance worker who shot the above video told us. "This occurs after NJ residents are suffering from 10 weeks, post-Hurricane Sandy, of no nighttime PATH service which is a unacceptable considering how fast the MTA recovered. Moreover, after Hurricane Irene, it's a further embarrassment that PATH took no measures to protect it's antiquated system from a pending flood. Lastly, how could PATH go 9 full weeks without notifying the public of realistic timeline for resuming proper service, which they finally did in a very vague statement on 1/2/13?"

Will watching an escalator suddenly run in the wrong direction keep Rodriguez off the train? "Unless there is major change or a clear plan outlined from the PATH on improvements, I'm probably not riding the train, let alone the escalator."