A WILD pack of rats have been spotted scampering out from under a homeless man’s blanket at a New York City subway station.
In a sickening viral clip, over 20 of the creatures can be seen scurrying away into the darkness of the grubby subway as people watch on in horror.
Commuters can be heard in the chilling video shouting, “oh my God,” as they see the rats running for their lives down the tracks.
The homeless man was sleeping on the ground by the end of the subway line under a grey blanket as just his shoes can be seen hanging out of his limited covers.
As the person filming approaches, you can see the blanket slowly moving around with the rodents before the homeless man flings his covers in the air, sending the rats into a panicked flurry.
The clip has been viewed over 13million times on TikTok in just 24 hours and seen over 24,000 concerned people leave comments.
One user commented: “This is heartbreaking.”
As someone else wrote: “Aghh that is so terrifying I’m so scared what they were doing to him.”
The sleeping man didn’t react when the rats bolted as many voiced their concerns over the state he could’ve been in.
Another said: “Lord bless this man, help him with his current situation. May he find a way out of this.”
As a second put: “How extremely sad and scary, no human needs to be living like this.”
At the beginning of the video a few rats can be seen scampering away before the entire clan follows suit to seemingly take over New York City.
The “Big Apples” homelessness problem has been on the rise for years now despite Mayor Eric Adams’ strict efforts to get them off the streets and to safety.
He has ramped up policing in popular homeless spots and ensured regular sweeps across the city are carried out to point those affected towards helpful places to get them a new place to stay.
The annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate survey saw a whopping 4,042 people living on the streets or the subways in January 2023.
During the same month in 2022 just over 3,400 people were recorded as being without shelter – an 18 per cent jump in one year.
Adams has also been reportedly fighting and losing a multi-million dollar battle against New York City’s rat population.
Just last year, a skin-crawling moment saw a rat crawling over a sleeping commuter on the subway before he woke up with a horrifying itch over his body.
As a second tired bloke was caught being kissed by the vermin as he dozed off in the station completely unaware of the little nightmare sitting on top of him.
The city were forced into hiring a specialist “rat czar” last year in Kathleen Corradi to help solve the crisis – paying her a $155,000 yearly salary.
Public complaints over rodent sightings have also spiked by nearly 8 per cent in New York City since Adams came into power, according to city data.
“It’s frightening. It’s unsettling. It’s unsafe. And it’s unhealthy,” said Chany Marcus, one local resident told NBC New York.
Roxanne Burey, another NYC local, said: “Everybody walks in the middle of the street because (the rats) are running on the sidewalks”
