Remarks that used to bother her stirred no reaction. The 47-story building at 7 World Trade Center had just collapsed, about seven hours after the burning towers fell and debris ignited fires in the smaller high-rise. As the phones started ringing and people started asking Ron and the other employees there what happened, they surmised that a small plane had lost its way and accidentally hit the building. "Everyone greeted me with such warm hearts," he said. I cant breathe!. Curling into the fetal position, I said, Lord, Im not ready to die please send somebody to help me,' he tells PEOPLE. Stanley Praimnath (born October 27, 1956) is a survivor of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks were on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan). Dont be afraid, he says. September 10, 2021 3:54 PM EDT. 20 Years Later, Their Bond Endures. D r. David Prezant . This was Stanley Praimnath, a Fuji Bank employee who had seen Flight 175 approach and ducked under his desk just before the impact. Copyright 2023 Associated Press. Many of his thoughts at first were with the first responders who helped him. Warning: This article may cause distress to some readers, Harrowing moments on his long descent from the 105. floor, just five floors below the very top of the South Tower, still haunt Joe Dittmar and likely always will. Keating Crown survived the direct impact on WTC 78th floor. The meeting started late, Dittmar recalled, and then around 8:46am something strange happened. The 9/11 Memorial and Museum is located at the former site of the World Trade Center in New York City. By this time, the rest of Mr Clarks group had headed upstairs, hoping for a rescue that never came. "So the third one was missed because the plane didn't hit the tower exactly in the center.". Ron reached the firefighter and told him he couldnt breathe. Within two months, the couple moved to Essex, a northern New York town of roughly 700 people. On the 81st floor, a woman heading upstairs stopped Mr Clark and the co-workers who had followed him. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Finally, Dittmar reached the ground floor lobby, but no-one was allowed out. If I die today, he remembers thinking, at least I died trying to help people.. Accounts from the North Tower can be found here . This is his story. I said, 'I'm getting the heck out of here. A tsunami of dust washed over emergency medical technician Guy Sanders, so thick that it clogged his surgical mask. Investigators later estimated about 17,400 tenants and visitors were in the twin towers at the time of the attack, which killed 2,977 people. A brace and a quarter-sized divot on his left leg reflect the injuries that ended his police career, a lifetime dream. "It was a crystal-clear day that day in New York City," Dittmar said, "and I remember being able to see through that smoke, through that fire, into the huge black holes in the building and seeing pieces of the fuselage of a large plane.". The Springfield, New Jersey, resident has now led about 500 tours for the 9/11 Tribute Museum (its separate from the larger National September 11 Memorial & Museum). "That simple decision to use the restroom - that two-and-a-half minute or so delay in his exiting - cost him his life that day," Dittmar said. None of them would survive. "There was a tremendous explosion there, a big fireball that engulfed that area and he would have been in it and the only way that anyone really could survive that is really be very lucky or have some kind of protection.". He keeps shelves of mementoes, including a cross and miniature twin towers fashioned from trade center steel. By chance, it was that stairwell that Crown took. 9/11 Survivors Reflect on Their Miraculous Escape from the South Tower Human Interest 9/11 Survivors Reflect on Their Miraculous Escape from the South Tower 16 Years Later: 'We'll Be. Ron woke up in the hospital. Janice Brooks, who now lives in Harleston, Norfolk, was working . There were burns to the great majority of his body. It doesn't go away.'. Miraculously, the desk shielded him as his office collapsed. Miraculously, the desk shielded him as his office collapsed. It is now on display in the 9/11 Memorial Museum, along with Praimnaths dust-covered shoes that allowed him to run to safety. Ive got to make up for 3,000 people who lost their voice.. But the attacks also left other marks, ones she didnt choose. Imperial Life in the Emerald City. She last saw him on the 101st floor of the trade center's south tower. They could see that the flames from the crash were forcing people in the North Tower to flee and in some cases to jump to escape the fire. And it was for the next 10 seconds after that immediate impact that was the only 10 seconds of the day that I was afraid. You can learn about their all-too-short lives here. Mr Clark grabbed his hands and pulled. On the 45th floor, recalls Praimnath, we came across a security guard who was caring for a man who had broken his back. "Every anniversary I run away," he said. Were going to get out, he told Sgt. Meanwhile, Crown is looking forward to unveiling the memorial Sunday. When hijacked Flight 175 banked and headed straight toward him, engines roaring, Praimnath, then an assistant vice-president at Fuji Bank, dove under his metal desk, yelling, Lord, I cant do this! He thought it was all over. "We should never forget what happened.". Its not something to be gotten over. A year after 9/11, he had a nervous breakdown. There was no way to proceed upward. 'Have you seen my daughter?' And it was for the next 10 seconds after that immediate impact that was the only 10 seconds of the day that I was afraid. Well be brothers for life!. Inside that lobby they exchanged business cards. Amid the debris, he saw a hand sticking out through a hole in a wall, waving up and down. No. She was functioning, but through a fog that took more than a year to lift. They did not know yet that a hijacked plane had been involved. Some grapple with their place in a tragedy defined by an enormous loss of life. He explained how it was possible for a very few to survive the extreme impact. There was no immediate evacuation order for the south tower. Help! She told them to turn back, because shed seen fire and debris lower down. "There were a number of paramedics, first responders, doctors that had run down to the site that were taking care of me and didn't survive when our building fell," he said. A total of 412 first responders died on 9/11, comprised of 340 firefighters and 72 police officers. A sense of doom descended on him and the rest of the people trapped between the floors. For perhaps the first time, Ron DiFrancesco realized he was no longer in control of the events in his life. "And they knew, they knew that they were going up those steps to fight a fire that they couldn't beat, knew that they were going up those steps to save lives that they couldn't save. What are you going to do?'". [2] Whilst making a phone call from his office, he looked out the south side of the building and spotted United Airlines Flight 175 flying towards him. Mr Clark shone his flashlight into the hole, and saw two eyes staring back at him. They followed his instructions. Then Mr Clark heard a sound. Mr Clark left the group and headed toward the voice. Theyre really unanswerable questions. He thought for the moment that the building would tip over but instead it simply swayed back the other way. All I could think of was that I wanted to see my wife and my daughters again. When they were a couple of blocks away, Mr Praimnath looked behind them. Marsh & McLennan Companies Chairman and CEO Jeff Greenberg knew something had gone terribly wrong in New York City that Tuesday morning. Help! After the building stopped swaying, Ron made his way to the staircase. They only made it to the 81st floor when Clark and his group were met by a woman and a man coming up the stairs. So he turned around and tried to go up. Before he could finish his sentence, the South Tower began collapsing. While Sept. 11 was a day of carnage, it also was a story of survival: Nearly 3,000 people were killed, but an estimated 33,000 or more people evacuated the World Trade Center and Pentagon. On an impulse, he started heading down Stairway A. Terrified, in fact.. A. Quentin Skip Orza II, vice president, RLI EPG, was one of three N.Y. branch employees in the building when the horrific events occurred. State Farm P/C Businesses Report $13B Underwriting Loss, Harford Mutual Insurance Group Announces Merger Plan with ClearPath Mutual, Florida Injury Attorney who Used LOPs Charged with Stealing $850,000 from Clients, Floridas SB 2A Ended One-Way Legal Fees. Take a look back at the basic facts of the Pentagon, Flight 93 andWorld Trade Center attacks, but be warned: Some of the content may be triggering. Crown was one of them. Tragically, there may be more due to ongoing health issues that first responders and those in the surrounding areas of the attacks, especially the World Trade Center, faced as a result of the dust, debris and toxins in the air. This was Stanley Praimnath, a Fuji Bank employee who had seen Flight 175 approach and ducked under his desk just before the impact. Since the right tip of the wing of the plane hit the tower above his floor, that part of the tower was on fire. Ron quickly made his way to the staircase. NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Tom Canavan was buried alive at the World Trade Center site when the twin towers collapsed 20 years ago on Sept. 11. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. To be an example to others that Sept. 11 did not destroy us.. Minutes earlier, American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 jet carrying 76 passengers, 11 crew and five hijackers, had hit the north face of the North Tower, between floors 93 and 99. "I was scared to go because I felt so guilty that I lost so many and I lived. Desiree Bouchat pauses by one of the inscribed names on the 9/11 memorial: James Patrick Berger. An AON insurance employee knocked on the door and entered the room. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Or later. A bit earlier. He was the appointed fire marshal for floors 103, 104 and 105. Nothing Short of Devastation People reached for their cellphones, "to call somebody to moan and groan about the fact that we couldn't have our meeting.". Yesterday, however, he returned to New York to the site where exactly 15 years ago he was lucky enough to survive Americas worst terrorist attack. He still doesnt. When the first plane hit the North Tower, the people in his office heard the crash and saw the flames and smoke emanating from that building. They followed his instructions. Feb. As people moved on, they swapped theories.