Ananova:

A terrified man survived an assassin's bullet when it ricocheted off his wife's cheek - and he caught it in his false teeth.

The miraculous escape happened in Zagreb, Croatia, as the two men started rowing about an overdue debt.

Within minutes one pulled out a pistol and blasted the couple at point blank range.

"He was so close you'd think that one or both of them would be dead instantly," said one police source in Zagreb, Croatia.

But the bullet just grazed the cheekbone of terrified blonde Mirna Cavlovic and carried straight on towards her husband Stipe, 37.

Then amazingly the shot got caught in Stipe's dentures and fell harmlessly to the ground.

"I thought I was dead for sure," he told police. "I didn't even see the bullet hit my wife. I just saw the flash of the gun's barrel.

"The next thing I knew was something hit my false tooth and I spat out the hot lead. It hurt like hell but we're both still alive."

Police ballistics experts reckon he was saved because so much of the bullet's speed had been lost when it first struck his wife's cheek.

The astounded would-be hitman fled in terror but was arrested soon after the botched shooting. Zagreb police confirmed a 58-year-old man is in custody on firearms charges.