PARIS—French-Armenian humorist and a journalist working at Charlie Hebdo called in to the offices to say he would not be going to work, hours before three gunmen stormed the editorial offices of the satire magazine Wednesday, killing 12 employees, including the magazine’s editor, reported Huffington Post France.

As the manhunt continues throughout France for the two remaining suspects who are still at-large, Mathieu Madénian, who had been working at Charlie Hebdo since September, went on France’s Canal+ on Wednesday to explain that he had called and left a message at the Hebdo offices at 9 a.m. saying he would not be going to work that day.

“This morning at 9 I called Hebdo to say I’m not coming in,” said Madénian. He had joked that he would bring an epiphany cake, a pastry known as galette des rois, popular during the holidays. This prompted the interviewer to declare: “You were saved by the epiphany cake—you were saved by the Maggi.”

“It is incredible,” said Madénian. “I received several messages from my mother who was in tears and was asking where I was that morning. I was only thinking about the people who died.”