It’s even hard to explain.
It was such a noise and such an impact that you actually felt it.
It felt like the building shuddered.
I thought everything was going to fall down.
I think we need to get out of here."
One of them says, A plane hit the [World Trade Center] building.
I thought,Sure, a little Piper.She says, A big one.
I say, What do you mean, a big one'?
She says, It looks really bad, Mrs. We thought it was some pilot who didn’t know what the heck he was doing.
Brenda Berkman, a lieutenant in the New York City Fire Department:I was off duty.
It was my ex-partner’s mother saying, Turn on your television.
Investigator Green:I saw the second plane come around and go into the building.
I told my colleague, This is no accident.
We’re under attack."
They evacuated us very quickly.
I made a couple of calls to let people know I was safe.
Then I heard a roar of jet engines.
I looked up at the South Tower and saw the moment of impact.
This was a tremendous shock.
We had 72 of our Windows family working that morning.
We also had more than 100 people in a private dining room.
So, after the second plane hit, I became emotional and felt tears well up in my eyes.
Well, it withstood the plane crash.
Systems analyst Lazaros:We got into the stairwell, and it was so quiet.
Everybody knew something really bad had happened, and everybody just wanted to get out of there.
We all just started walking and walking and walking down.
We saw the firefighters, a lot of them.
They started coming up the stairwell.
So, we all moved over for them.
They had so much equipment on them.
And it was smoky, and they were sweating already.
They were walking up the stairs.
We asked them, Where are you going?
Where do you have to go?
They said, Oh, we have to get underneath the fire.
They had all these ropes and things, and all those guys never got out of there.
We got to the end of the stairwell and went through the open door.
At first we had no idea where we were.
I said, This must be some kind of old subbasement, somewhere that’s full of debris.
It was the lobby we had come into in the morning, but everything had been destroyed.
The security guard said, Your building is safe, is secure.
Go back to your office.
I’m mesmerized, not realizing a plane is coming toward me.
I dropped the phone and I screamed, and I dove under the desk.
All I remember saying at that time was, Lord, I can’t do this.
You take over."
The bottom wing took out most of the floor I was on.
It looked like a demolition crew came and ripped the entire office apart.
Every piece of furniture was mangled.
The only desk that stood firm was the desk I was hiding under.
My Bible was on top of that desk.
That’s the only reason I can attribute to why I was saved.
The ceiling above me collapsed, and the sprinkler system came on.
I was screaming for somebody to help me: like don’t leave me to die.
Somebody on the floor heard me, and the person had a flashlight.
She said, Stop.
you’re free to’t go down.
We have just come off a floor in flames.
Now we’re all standing on this rather tiny landing, and the debate began.
About 30 seconds into this, I was distracted by a banging noise, a muffled cry.
I dropped out of the debate and concentrated on what I was hearing.
I made out this male voice calling for help.
I went in on the 81st.
It was dark on this floor, no electricity and some black smoke.
The stranger’s voice was, I’m guessing, 20 yards away.
My flashlight beam was like a high-beam headlight on a country road at night in the fog.
You just saw the particles but nothing else.
The flashlight caught him and went down into his eyeballs.
He said to me, One thing I got to know.
Do you know Jesus Christ?
I said, I go to church every Sunday.
Come on, we’ve got work to do here.
Let’s move here."
Praimnath:I’m confronted by one lousy wall, a drywall that stood firm.
The man with the flashlight said, Climb over.
I’ll catch you on the other side.
At this point, I’m banged up, bruised, bloodied.
He stood on a desk, reached over the top of the wall and grabbed me in a headlock.
I squirmed and he pulled, and I flew over on the other side.
I knocked him off his feet.
When I realized where I was, I was lying on top of this guy.
I don’t know how to thank this man.
I grab him, give him a kiss on the cheek.
Clark:I dusted myself off and put my hand up and said, I’m Brian.
He said, I’m Stanley.
We’ll be brothers for life.
Praimnath:He said, All my life, I’ve lived as an only child.
I always wanted a brother."
Clark:At that instant, I noticed that I had punctured my right palm.
He had a puncture wound on one of his palms, too.
I smushed our hands together.
And I said, In fact, we’ll be blood brothers."
