Ramon Milner. Photo / Amos Chapple
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Ramon Milner slept through his alarm yesterday morning - and the lie-in could have saved his life.
The 22-year-old labourer was due to start work at the scene of the deadly explosion in Onehunga at 7am.
After staying up late drinking beer on Friday night he arrived at the site
with two workmates almost 90 minutes late to find emergency services ferrying wounded workers to hospital.
"I feel pretty fortunate today. If we had got there earlier we might have been blasted," he said.
"It was the long weekend and I just felt like kicking back with a few beers.
"I'm going to go and buy a Lotto ticket now. It's crazy to think that such a random thing as sleeping in could save your life."
Milner was sent home to Ranui, West Auckland where his family had heard about the explosion.
He had been giving a lift to co-workers Joe Heere, 22, and Tony Youngi, 33. All three worked for RCK Contractors, a sub-contractor of HEB Construction.
All three were in shock yesterday at the scene of destruction and cracked open a beer as they tried to find out about their friends inside.
Milner, whose partner is expecting their first child in October, had worked on the site for only two weeks.
His mother Rica was shocked to hear her son had come so close to death.
"I'm so glad he wasn't down in that hole when the blast hit. Who would look after the children?"
The family planned to celebrate his survival with a meal of roast wild pig - after butchering an animal that morning.
