South Tower witnesses

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First-hand accounts

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Contents

South Tower

104th floor

Gordon Aamoth Jr., who worked on the 104th floor of the south tower, called home to say he was all right after the north tower was hit by one of the hijacked airliners. But that was the final call.[1]

98th floor

Sarah Dechalus was working on the 98th floor, when Flight 11 crashed into the other tower. She not only saw, but felt the impact. Marissa Panigrosso, who was on the same floor, "felt the explosion as much as she heard it. A hot blast slapped her in the face, as if the door of an oven had suddenly been thrown open. So intense was the heat that papers on desks were singed."[2]

91st floor

Robert DeAngelis, a management consultant on the 91st floor, also went to the 78th floor lobby with his colleagues. But when the public address announcement said all was well in the building, he headed back up. He continued to answer the phone, assuring callers that everyone else in the office had left safely.[3]

84th floor

Brian Clark, in a brokerage firm on the 84th floor, also heard the announcement that everything was under control.[3]

81st floor

From his 81st-floor office in the southwest corner of the south tower, Stanley Praimnath saw the flames in the neighboring building. He hopped into the elevator and rode to the 78th floor lobby, where he joined three top executives of Fuji Bank in an express elevator to the ground. A security guard stopped them there. "Where are you going?" the guard asked. "Waiting right here (in the building) would be safer. Go back to your office." Fuji Bank had been moving personnel among its offices for weeks as part of a merger. "Now is the time to relocate," Praimnath joked to Brian Thompson, the head of human resources. Laughing, they all stepped back into the elevator.[3]

75th floor

Ed Nicholls was heading down the stairwell, making it down to the 75th floor, after American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the other building. They were told the situation was under control and made it back up to the 78th floor (sky lobby) where he ran into a colleague. They thought it made no sense to return to their office, as instructed, and stayed on the 78th floor while talking and deciding what to do. That's when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the building.[4][5]

Other people

  • Elizabeth Holmes (84th floor), Lauren Smith (89th floor)
  • Robert Rasmussen, a native of Hunter, N.D., was doing business in the south tower and telephoned his wife, Anna, to say he was fine after an airliner smashed into the north tower, according to his stepfather, the Rev. Jerry Protextor of Hawley, Minn. "He called home immediately after tower one had been struck and told (his family) he was all right," Protextor said. "It was a short time after that, tower two was struck by the plane. We've not been able to be in contact with him since."[1]
  • Lt. E. Gutch, PAPD, arrived at approximately 8:50 a.m. "While assisting a female burn victim, I observed [PR] look up towards the WTC tower #2. At this time the undersigned heard the sound of jet engines and observed an aircraft with a blue color tail fly directly into the south face of WTC Tower #2."[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wait Agonizing for Families of Missing; Son Called to Reassure Wayzata Family After First Crash; But They've Heard Nothing Since, Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota), September 12, 2001
  2. ↑ Dwyer, Jim and Kevin Flynn (2005) 102 Minutes, Times Books, p. 23
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ Inches decide life, death on the 78th floor, USA Today.
  6. ↑ http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/pa-transcripts/pa-police-reports01.pdf
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