Saved by lunch decision

AN Irish woman survived the New Zealand earthquake after deciding at the last minute to go out for lunch just before the building she worked in collapsed.

However, fears are mounting for two more Irish people, following confirmation a Monaghan man, Owen McKenna, was killed in the disaster.

In a rare good news story from the region, Angela Mullin, 28, from Blackrock, Dundalk, Co Louth, survived the earthquake when she decided to go out for her lunch break instead of heading to the canteen where she would usually eat, just as the 6.3 magnitude quake hit the city. The third floor of the building — where the canteen was located — collapsed seconds later. Angela, who is a sub-editor with the Christchurch Mail escaped uninjured as her workmates were trapped in the rubble.