A 63-year-old Papamoa man felt lucky to be alive after a petrol can exploded in the back of his ute, setting him on fire.
Don Bayliss is in Tauranga Hospital with moderate burns to his arms, face and neck after Saturday's explosion, which sounded "like a bomb going off". He wants people to be aware of what can happen if petrol is left stored inside a vehicle.
His wife Cushla told the Bay of Plenty Times last night her husband was lucky to be able to talk about what happened after he managed to escape from the fiery vehicle, with his hair on fire and burns to every part of his body not covered by clothing.
She also wanted the blast to serve as a warning to others.
Mr Bayliss had been working in his Don Bayliss Clothing store in Te Puke for a couple of hours on Saturday when he decided to take the container of petrol to the family orchard.