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British 9/11 survivor recounts escape from 84th floor of Twin TowersThe Independent
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00:00There was this almighty bang. The lights went off. I could feel stuff falling down from the ceiling.
00:06A couple of the girls at the front fell to the floor. I was just jostled back against the wall.
00:10I didn't go down. I was jostled back against the wall.
00:12When the lights flickered on off, you could see all the dust coming down.
00:15The girls were crying. The girls were screaming. People were literally falling down.
00:19Eventually, the building was swaying just gently. I could feel the building moving.
00:25At some point, three firemen walked past us, all fully kitted up, dug to our word, kind of almost looked
00:31us up and down and thought,
00:32OK, they're walking wounded, and carried on up. I looked up at the buildings for the first time.
00:39And where our floor should have been, there was this huge gaping hole.
00:45And I could see bits of building falling down. The noise, honestly, the banging, the crashing.
00:50And I just stood there and cried.
01:04Janice, perhaps you could tell me, how old were you on the 11th of September, 2001?
01:12And why were you in New York on that day?
01:14I was 41 years old. I arrived in New York on the 23rd of August, 2001.
01:20I worked for a company called Eurobrokers, a small company of money brokers, offices in London, where I worked initially.
01:27New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Toronto.
01:31It was a fantastic opportunity for me to transfer to New York.
01:36So I was working for the CEO, whose name was Gil, as his assistant.
01:41And our office was on the 84th floor of Two World Trade Centre, which was the South Tower.
01:46Now, perhaps you could take us back to that day.
01:49How did September the 11th as a day start for you?
01:54On the 10th, actually, I'm just backtracking for a little bit, Gil and Keith had gone to London overnight.
01:58So on the 11th, everyone talks about the impossibly blue sky.
02:02It was a beautiful day.
02:03I often say to my friends, come to New York in May before it gets too hot or September before
02:07it gets too cold.
02:09And so I arrived in the office early.
02:11I was actually living in Battery Park City, which is across the highway from the World Trade Centre.
02:16So my commute was all of 10 minutes.
02:18I was at my desk by about 7.30.
02:21I was the only one at that point in our little corner of the office.
02:25Now, our office looked down on the Statue of Liberty and the harbour.
02:29So we were that side of the building.
02:31And there was just this loud bang and I could see paper and dust swirling in the air through the
02:36windows.
02:38Now, New York, much like London at the time, there was lots of construction.
02:41So I got used to, in really the three weeks I'd been there, that there was often bangs and crashes.
02:46And nobody ever, ever took any notice.
02:48But this was particularly loud.
02:49And I ran round the corner and saw Brian.
02:51I said, what was that?
02:51And he said, don't worry.
02:52I'm pretty sure it's a construction explosion.
02:54Let me find out and I'll come back to you.
02:56But lights don't flicker and at this stage your computer screen doesn't flicker.
03:02There's nothing to suggest that it feels completely out of the ordinary.
03:06This feels like any normal thing that could happen in New York in 2001.
03:10Absolutely.
03:11So I'm not bothered.
03:12Absolutely.
03:12I go back to my desk, again, just doing the morning things, emailing, checking bank accounts and things like that,
03:19checking figures.
03:20And then a man's voice, top of his lungs, everybody out, everybody out.
03:24But I pick up my bag, take a couple of steps away from my desk and thought, oh, hang on,
03:28I better call Gil.
03:30So I dialed the London office.
03:31They can't find Gil, so I speak to Robin.
03:33Now, Robin was my boss.
03:35I'd worked at Eurobrokers for 10 years in London.
03:37So Robin had been my boss, you know, up until three weeks ago.
03:39He was a managing director of the London office.
03:43And I'm very casual on the phone.
03:45He tells this story better than me.
03:46But I'm very casual on the phone.
03:48Hey, Rob, not really too sure what's happening, but I'm getting ready to leave.
03:52Him screaming at me down the phone.
03:55F***ing hell, Janice, a plane's gone into the building.
03:57Get the f*** out of there.
03:59Now, going through my mind at that time was like, here's a guy who's, what, 3,500 miles away from
04:04me?
04:05Him and the whole of the London office were watching it live on TV.
04:09But I have no clue what's happening 200 yards away from where I'm sitting.
04:13The plane had gone into one world trade.
04:15We're two world trade.
04:18I don't remember saying goodbye to him.
04:20I don't remember hanging up.
04:22I just remember grabbing my bag and running into the bond dealing floor.
04:25As I ran round, three guys walking towards me, Dan, Dominic and Brian.
04:30As I'm running, Robin said, a plane's gone into the building.
04:33We've got to get out.
04:33We've got to get out.
04:34Brian is next door, Janice.
04:37We're OK.
04:38We're staying.
04:39What do you want to do?
04:40Dan looked at me and smiled.
04:42I carried on running, didn't even stop to talk to them or to breathe, really.
04:47In front of me by about, I don't know, 100 feet, two guys, Steve and Jose.
04:53Come on, Janice, this way.
04:55Down you go.
04:56And they pushed me, herded me into the fire exit.
04:59And those three that you'd crossed, why, even though you're saying something that sounds
05:03so different, are they so relaxed and happy just to continue?
05:08It's next door.
05:09Well, we're OK.
05:12And on the tannoys, was anything coming through on the building that was giving you some...
05:17Not at that point.
05:17That was going to be later, but not at that point.
05:21And as I said, my decision to stay or go was taken away from me by Steve and Jose heading
05:25me into the staircase.
05:26And what are their roles within the company?
05:29They're both in IT, but they were the fire marshals I was to come to understand.
05:34So they were pushing everyone into the staircase.
05:36As I walked into the staircase, people, your broker's, as I said, 84th floor, that building
05:42107 floors.
05:43So people were still coming down from upstairs.
05:45Very calm, walking down two by two, a well-lit kind of fire exit.
05:51And are people chatting?
05:52Yeah.
05:52The chat around me, September 11th was on a Tuesday.
05:56The chat around me was, oh, guess what I did at the weekend?
05:58Oh, I'm going to the theatre this week.
06:00So very casual chatting, no one panicking.
06:02I don't know if they know what Robin screamed at me.
06:05So I can't go in there all panicky.
06:08So I just carry on walking down.
06:09As I walked into the staircase, there was a guy from the dealing floor who walked in
06:13a couple of seconds before me.
06:14I didn't know his name, but I recognised him.
06:17We were separated by two girls.
06:19For each floor in the World Trade Centre, there were two flights of stairs.
06:23And as we turned, I kind of like, he kept looking back, I kept losing him.
06:26So there were two girls that separated, but they let us go together.
06:29We carried on going down.
06:31I had a ridiculously high pair of clip-cloppy shoes on.
06:34And at one point he said to me, you might want to take them off.
06:36So I remember taking my shoes off and like stuffing them in my bag.
06:39We carried on walking down a little while.
06:41And then there was an announcement, the first announcement.
06:44We have been asked not to evacuate to World Trade Centre.
06:47The space is being used on the plaza for those being evacuated from one World Trade Centre.
06:52This building is stable.
06:54Please return to your office.
06:56Wow.
06:57We all kind of like looked around at each other.
06:59The same again.
06:59We've been asked not to evacuate to World Trade Centre.
07:02The space is being used on the plaza for those being evacuated from one World Trade Centre.
07:07This building is stable.
07:09Please re-enter the building at your nearest re-entry point and return to your office.
07:15And at this point, there's not been any indication, at least in the conversations you've been having with people on
07:22the way down,
07:23that there is clear understanding that American Airlines Flight 11 has struck the North Tower.
07:31No.
07:31People are still not talking about that.
07:33It's just an explosion and they're enjoying the conversation of what they've been up to that weekend.
07:39Absolutely.
07:39So no panic at all.
07:40No concern even.
07:41People laughing.
07:42People joking.
07:43But when that came on, I think it kind of...
07:47I mean, I kind of thought, probably like most people, that it was a small aircraft.
07:51I don't know, the pilot had had a heart attack.
07:53But he shouldn't have been that close to the buildings anyway.
07:56But in my mind, that is what I'm thinking it was.
08:00So we walked down.
08:02Our nearest re-entry point was on the 70th floor.
08:04And we started at 84.
08:07We walked through the offices of Morgan Stanley, walked around to the lift lobby, the elevator bank.
08:13And there's a gang of people there.
08:15Again, the same announcement.
08:17We've been asked not to evacuate.
08:18Too well trade.
08:19The space is being used on the plaza for those being evacuated from one well trade.
08:24Please return to your office.
08:26This building is stable.
08:28This building is stable.
08:30So what do you think at this stage?
08:32You've had a colleague on the London office, on the phone, telling you in no uncertain terms,
08:38get out, a plane has hit the building next to you.
08:43What's going on in your mind now?
08:46Are you comforted enough by this announcement to return to your desk?
08:50Or do you have second thoughts?
08:52Well, we're standing there with a gang of people.
08:54There was another announcement.
08:55And they said the elevators will recommence momentarily.
08:59Very American, but that's what they said.
09:00So there's probably about 12 of us now standing there, pushing the button, pushing the button.
09:05When I turned the corner, I was with this guy from Eurobrokers.
09:08Very nice, very pleasant.
09:09As we turned the corner to the lift lobby, there were two guys that I knew really well,
09:15Paul and Bobby.
09:16Paul was the one that, he's English, he transferred to New York.
09:19He was the one that met me at the airport with my dog and my suitcase to begin my biggest
09:24adventure.
09:25He was the one that every time he walked past my desk, it was like,
09:28oh, don't forget, you've got to get a bank account, you've got to register with a doctor,
09:31you've got to get a social security number, all of these things that he was,
09:34because he'd done it, so he was guiding me through.
09:36So, you know, you meet really great people in your life.
09:40He was absolutely one of mine, just a really lovely man.
09:45So he was there and I thought, okay, so then someone said, oh, why don't we just walk back up?
09:52So we all kind of went, oh.
09:54So we turned to leave and Paul and Bobby almost took off running.
10:01As we came out of the lift lobby and started walking back to where we came from,
10:05I shouted out, I thought to myself, this guy's really nice,
10:08but I think I'd like to be with someone that I know really well.
10:11So I shouted out, hey, hey, wait for me.
10:13And Paul turned to me and smiled and said, come on, old woman.
10:19And they disappeared into the staircase and I'd never see them again.
10:25And they went up at that stage.
10:28Yeah, they were going back.
10:31By now there's about 10 of us maybe.
10:33We get to the staircase.
10:35People are still coming down from upstairs.
10:36And the girl said to me, where are you going?
10:37I said, well, they've told us to go back.
10:38We're going up.
10:39We're going back.
10:40Oh, no, we're going to carry on down.
10:42So they carried on down.
10:43We waited a couple of minutes for the people to, you know, stop coming down.
10:47And then we started going back up.
10:49And this was, we were on the 70th floor at this point.
10:52At some point you come out of the fire exit into a connecting corridor.
10:57So there's a door there.
10:58There's a corridor.
10:59There's a door at the other end.
11:00So it's just basically a little transition.
11:02So we came out of there.
11:04I was probably, I was the last one to go in.
11:07And I was probably three steps into this little corridor.
11:11There was this almighty bang.
11:13The lights went off.
11:15I could feel stuff falling down from the ceiling.
11:17A couple of the girls at the front fell to the floor.
11:19I was just jostled back against the wall.
11:21I didn't go down.
11:22I was jostled back against the wall.
11:24When the lights flickered on off, you could see all the dust coming down.
11:27The girls were crying.
11:27The girls were screaming.
11:28People were literally falling down.
11:31Eventually, the building was swaying just gently.
11:34You know, I could feel the building moving.
11:37I think I thought at that time that the other building had somehow fallen into us.
11:42That made sense to me.
11:44I didn't know what was happening.
11:45That made sense to me.
11:46But actually, the second plane has just hit your building.
11:52Yeah.
11:52But again, none of us know that.
11:53Yes.
11:54Because we're in this little corridor.
11:55None of us know.
11:55And I don't know what the other people thought.
11:57But my thoughts were that, as I said, the building had collapsed or fallen into us.
12:04Eventually, the lights came on.
12:06Everyone was up.
12:07Really dusty.
12:08The ceiling grid had fallen down.
12:09This big metal grid had fallen down.
12:10Bits of dust.
12:11Bits of dirt everywhere.
12:14And two guys.
12:15The guy from Eurobrokers.
12:16The guy that I was with.
12:17And a guy in a white shirt came running past me.
12:19I was the last one in.
12:21Started pulling all the debris back to open the door where we'd just come through.
12:25I mean, I'd literally taken three steps into the corridor at that point.
12:29Eventually pulled the door open and I peered over their shoulder.
12:33The stairs were gone.
12:34It was blackness and dark.
12:37As in, they had literally, the stairs had been removed.
12:42Gone.
12:42There was nothing.
12:43And there was literally nothing below that you could see.
12:45All I could see.
12:46I was peering over their shoulder.
12:47All I could see was darkness and flames.
12:49And flames.
12:51Okay.
12:51So you knew at this stage you were in pretty serious trouble.
12:54Again, I didn't quite know what happened.
12:57Again, I'm thinking, oh, the building's fallen into us.
12:59Smashed a couple of floors.
13:01That makes sense.
13:02Suddenly, there's this woman's scream.
13:04This horror film scream that lives free in my head still today.
13:09And then bang, bang, bang, bang.
13:11And it was the door that we were heading towards.
13:14Again, the guy with the white shirt and the man from Eurobroker.
13:16Everyone was on the floor pulling all the debris away.
13:19Eventually opened the door.
13:20The first lady to come through, covered in a glass in her hair and cuts all over her face.
13:26And her arm was cut almost neatly, actually, from her shoulder to her elbow.
13:30She was covered, as I said, cuts everywhere.
13:32Where one of the guys had a gym bag, got his gym bag out, got a t-shirt out, wrapped
13:38her arm up in a sling.
13:40The next guy that came through, big pieces of glass in his chest that people were pulling out.
13:44The next guy came through, his whole back was covered in blood and bits of glass, again, that people were
13:49pulling out.
13:50Another couple of people came through with glass everywhere.
13:53And then the last person to come through was this lady who was screaming.
13:56I can't see.
13:57I can't see.
13:58And her eyes were covered with blood.
14:00The guy with the gym bag got out some water and we cleaned her up.
14:04She had a big gash on her head that kind of, the blood had dripped into her eyes.
14:07She had long, dark hair.
14:08And when she shook her head, glass showered everyone.
14:11And someone said, what happened?
14:12What happened?
14:13And one of the guys said, as we had just gone through that door, we were like, you know, not
14:20even a minute behind them.
14:22We heard a loud hissing sound.
14:24And as we looked up, a fireball was coming towards the building.
14:27We ran back.
14:29And of course, as everyone knows, in the World Trade Center, it's all glass.
14:32As we ran back, the windows were shattered.
14:36And that's what hit them all.
14:39So again, I was thinking, that makes sense that the building has fallen into us.
14:43That makes sense, right?
14:44I think that makes sense.
14:46By now, there were probably 15 of us in this small corridor.
14:51We can't go down those stairs that we came from because we've seen there's no stairs there.
14:56We can't go the way they've just come through because of the glass and the building being shattered.
15:02Has the reality of the situation struck you at this point?
15:06Or is adrenaline just pumping through your body and you're just trying to figure out how to get down, how
15:13to get out of the building?
15:14I think that day I was in a bit of a daze, actually.
15:17Because even then, the impact hadn't hit me.
15:20I was with a gang of people.
15:22We would be okay.
15:23I'm thinking.
15:25I think.
15:25And what about 1993 and the history of the previous attacks that had taken place on the World Trade Center
15:35as recently as eight years ago?
15:38I was aware of that.
15:39I'd always been aware of it because I'd worked for Eurobrokers for 10 years.
15:42And we know the flaws were, you know, our flaws was the site of one of the bombs.
15:47So there's stories about that.
15:49But that didn't enter my mind at all.
15:52Paul had actually said, I said, does this happen often?
15:54And he said, oh, no, every eight years.
15:56So I knew what he was inferring to, but I didn't really kind of, that didn't, I weren't thinking about
16:02that at this time.
16:03I'm thinking, I'm in this corridor with 15 people.
16:04I know we can't go down that way.
16:06We can't go down that way.
16:07What happens now?
16:11I was, as I'd said, one of the last people to go through and magically there was another door.
16:20There was another door behind where I was standing.
16:24The same colour as the walls.
16:27No, no surround, like no architrave around it at all.
16:31No coving, no handle, but you push the button and the handle popped out.
16:37The guy in the white shirt and the man from Eurobrokers on their hands and knees, pulling all the stuff
16:42away.
16:43We opened the door enough that we were able to walk through and we walked onto a huge piece of
16:49wood that we couldn't move.
16:50So one by one, we started going through.
16:54Some of the people took off running, never see them again.
16:58I was the back of this little queue.
17:04The lady in front of me was a lady with the arm and the lady behind me was a screaming
17:08lady.
17:09We started walking down.
17:11The guy from Eurobrokers kept running back up.
17:13Okay, guys, come on, hold on.
17:15We have to keep going.
17:16Keep going.
17:17Hold on.
17:17Watch where you're going.
17:18We're going to be okay.
17:18We're going to be okay.
17:19Now, the corridor that we got into was brightly lit, a bit dusty, but not like the corridor we'd come
17:25from.
17:26There were hundreds of exploded Coke bottles everywhere.
17:31I did not have my shoes on, if you remember, I'd taken my shoes off.
17:35So my feet were covered with dust, with glass.
17:38I could see glass.
17:40And as we walked out, my feet were really sticky.
17:43And I think I thought that maybe there was a vending machine nearby that had been hit or something.
17:48So we start going down.
17:50After about five or six floors, no dust, no dirt, just like a regular corridor.
17:59I don't remember seeing the floor markers.
18:02So by this stage, you're logically sort of around, you know, five floors below 70.
18:07So you're around sort of 65 stories up.
18:09Well, we started going back up.
18:11We started at 70.
18:12I think we probably walked up three or four or five floors.
18:17So in my mind, although I don't know 100 percent, in my mind, we're about 75 when we started walking
18:23back down.
18:23Okay.
18:25So you've then gone down another five or six stories to being around...
18:33If you remember, we started at Morgan Stanley at 70.
18:36We walked up about five floors, I think.
18:39So we started, the corridor that we entered, I think, was about 75.
18:43So we start going down, as I said, nice, clear and bright after a little while.
18:48Three of us at the back, by far the slowest.
18:50The guy from Eurobrook is running up, running up, running up.
18:53At one point, you kind of lose track of...
18:56Obviously, I don't know what the time is, but you lose track of what floor you're on, where you're going.
19:00But he's, come on, come on.
19:01We have to keep going.
19:02Come on, girls, keep going.
19:03Hold on.
19:03Watch where you're going.
19:04So he was kind of jeeing us up and then running down to the other people.
19:09And after, after, I don't know how many floors, I'm going to say 10 flights of stairs,
19:14I happened to glance down at my left foot and I could see blood oozing through it.
19:21And I stopped for a minute and I'm thinking, I knew that I'd trodden on glass.
19:27Absolutely, I knew that I'd trodden on glass.
19:29Absolutely, there was dirt and there was dust and my feet were sticky.
19:32But I could feel, I'm not a screamer, I am not a screamer in my life,
19:36but I could feel this scream building inside me in a bit of panic.
19:40And then I happened to look down and the lady in the front that had the arm cut,
19:45she'd lost almost half of her foot.
19:48And I was walking in her bloody footprints.
19:51Wow.
19:52So that, because then I knew it wasn't me, that kind of settled me for a little bit.
19:57And I just was aware of it and I'd look down and glance at it after my foot was covered.
20:01But we just kept walking.
20:05The sling that she had on, the blood was dripping quite furiously now.
20:08And we were slow, we were really slow.
20:10But, you know, we carried on, carried on.
20:13After about another four or five, six flights of stairs,
20:15I happened to look down at my shirt and I'm like, oh, my shirt's covered in blood.
20:19How much blood did you actually have on your shirt?
20:21It was like a zigzaggy kind of thing.
20:23And now when I think back, it was when the lady with the arm as she was moving.
20:27That's when that caught me.
20:29And I looked down and I thought, oh, I've got, but I hadn't thought of that at that time.
20:34I know now.
20:35But, oh, I've got blood on my shirt.
20:37I've got blood on my shirt.
20:37You thought you had been cut in some way.
20:39I don't know.
20:39I thought I just, I was just mesmerized by this.
20:43And I stood and held it away from my body.
20:44I've got blood on my shirt.
20:45I've got blood on my shirt.
20:47And the guy from your brokers came running up, came running up.
20:50What's the matter?
20:50I said, look, I've got blood on my shirt.
20:51I've got blood on my shirt.
20:53He took me by the shoulders, by the arm, by the shoulders and said, it's not your blood.
20:58You are okay.
21:00We have to get out of here.
21:03Hold on.
21:04Come on, girls.
21:04We have to get out of here.
21:05And I think the calm confidence, I had started, I think, get the feeling that this, something's going on.
21:14I don't know what.
21:15Something's not right.
21:16But he looked me right in the eyes.
21:18And he was very calm but insistent we have to get out of here.
21:24Okay, okay, okay.
21:25So I gathered myself together and we started off again.
21:27And with a bit more purpose, I think, because the girl in front and the girl behind had both heard
21:31what he said.
21:32So we started off with a bit more purpose.
21:34Went down probably another five, six flights of stairs.
21:37There's absolutely no question at this stage that you would think about getting in an elevator.
21:42You're very clear now.
21:43We know we're near an elevator bank.
21:44Right, okay.
21:45You know, in my mind, this was some kind of utility staircase.
21:51It wasn't like the other staircases.
21:52It was much wider.
21:55And as I said, the floors weren't numbered.
21:57Very well lit, though.
21:58There was no, you know, there was no, it wasn't dark at all.
22:02After about another five or six floors, I just stood there and started crying.
22:06I think it just kind of everything swept over me.
22:08I didn't quite know what I was doing, but I was following this man.
22:11And he came running up and said, what's the matter?
22:13What's the matter?
22:13And I said, I don't even know your name.
22:16And his name was Bob.
22:18So come on, girls, we're nearly there.
22:20We weren't nearly there, but we're nearly there.
22:22Come on, keep going, keep going, keep going.
22:24So we keep going, we keep going.
22:25At some point, three firemen walked past us, all fully kitted up with the masks and the tanks.
22:34Don't say a word.
22:35Kind of almost looked us up and down and thought, OK, they're walking wounded, but they're OK, and carried on
22:42up.
22:42Even this woman who's clearly got a significant injury to her leg and her arm.
22:48Her foot and her arm, yeah, yeah.
22:49I think they saw us moving.
22:52Yes.
22:52And I think that they maybe thought there were other people that needed help further up.
22:56So I think, I don't know what they thought.
22:58They never said a word.
22:59But their priority appears to be get to the source of the flames and get up there quickly.
23:03Get upstairs and see if they can help any more people.
23:05And of course, it's highly unlikely that those firemen would have survived.
23:09Yeah.
23:12We carry on going down.
23:14Again, another Bob running up.
23:15Come on, we're getting there.
23:16Honestly, I promise you, we're nearly there, girls.
23:18Come on, come on, we can do this.
23:19Hold on, watch where you're going.
23:20We can do this, we can do this, we can do this.
23:22It's by now that the lady with the arm in front of me, this was now streaming a lot of
23:29blood.
23:30And we are getting slower and slower.
23:32And she's a bit shaky and I can see her foot is clearly now bothering her more.
23:37She's slightly hobbling, starting to hobble.
23:40But we carry on, we carry on, we carry on.
23:42We got to a certain point where she said, she just stopped.
23:45So the two of us behind obviously stopped and said, you know, what's the matter?
23:48No, no, no, I can't.
23:49I can't.
23:49I can't go anymore.
23:50I can't go anymore.
23:51I can't go anymore.
23:52I really can't.
23:52I can't.
23:53I can't.
23:53It's just, I'm just, no.
23:55Bob came running up and said, honestly, I promise you, we're nearly there.
23:58We've got a couple more floors.
23:59Please, please, come on.
24:00Hold on.
24:00We're nearly there.
24:02So we carry on.
24:03Okay, right.
24:03She's rallied.
24:04He rallies us all.
24:05We carry on walking.
24:06We got down probably another two or three floors and she fell to the ground.
24:09She fell onto the steps.
24:10I can't, I can't go anymore.
24:13This was now a stream of blood.
24:15And I actually looked at her foot for the first time and it was from her like big toe
24:18all across her toes had been cut.
24:22So I don't know even how she got down as far as we did.
24:24She was as white as a ghost and she'd started to shake.
24:28And she'd lost a huge amount of blood.
24:30Oh, absolutely.
24:32And that's, I think some of that was on me as well.
24:35And, um, she, she said, I can't go on anymore.
24:37You guys go, if we're nearly at the bottom, you guys go send someone up to get me.
24:41No, no, no, we can't.
24:42Come on.
24:42We've got to all stay together.
24:43Bob's saying, come on, we'll stay together.
24:45I promise you there's not many more floors to go.
24:47Um, no, no, I really can't.
24:49So, oh, so we tried to get her up.
24:51We can't even get her up at this point.
24:52Uh, so what did Bob do?
24:55He gave her a piggyback the rest of the flights down.
24:58I think then again, this is just my guesstimate.
25:00We're on about the 10th floor.
25:01So he carried her all the way down.
25:04Was there, was there ever any question in his mind that he would listen to what she was
25:10saying and leave her there?
25:11Or was he unequivocal that she was coming with him?
25:14That we need to stay together.
25:15We've got, we've come this, I think I never spoke to him about that particular thing.
25:18I spoke to him obviously a lot afterwards, but I never particularly drilled it down that
25:22far.
25:22Um, I think that he was probably thinking we've come this far.
25:26We've only got a couple.
25:27We literally had another 10, like 10 floors to go.
25:30Um, and we'd come so far.
25:33There was no way that he was going to leave her.
25:34There was no way that he was going to leave her.
25:36Um, so yeah, we carried her down.
25:38We, when we got to the, um, the, uh, it wasn't the ground floor.
25:41It was a basement actually.
25:42They, they sent us down to, we went to, um, as we walked into the building, chaos, people
25:48running everywhere.
25:49People, you know, lots of noise, people running everywhere.
25:51I scanned all the shops.
25:52It was like a shopping arcade underneath.
25:55I scanned all the shops.
25:56All the windows were broken.
25:57There were people boarding up, boarding up windows.
25:59Just so, so noisy.
26:03But there were firemen, policemen and port authority workers still running into the building.
26:12The lady with the arm and the guy that was with, uh, the last I saw, they were taken
26:16away by paramedic.
26:17I saw them kind of leaving.
26:18The lady behind me with the long dark hair looked around.
26:20And she'd gone, there were people directing you where to go.
26:24So people directed us over to the far corner.
26:26We got to Borders bookshop, pew bookshop, all closed down glass everywhere.
26:32Uh, we walked up, uh, we walked up the escalator.
26:36The escalator wasn't working.
26:37And there was a big burly American cop there.
26:39Now I really wish I could do a big burly American cop voice, but I can't, but it's kind
26:43of like, don't look up.
26:44Don't look back.
26:45Run, run to him.
26:47And there was another big burly American cop just by St.
26:49Paul's church waving.
26:53And of course, by this stage, the second plane as, as has gone into our building, your building
27:01to World Trade Center.
27:03But the, but it hasn't come down obviously.
27:06And it was your building that came down first, despite being struck second.
27:11Yeah.
27:12Um, so it, it doesn't seem inconceivable that policemen and firemen are running to the site
27:18of danger as, you know, these heroes would, and people would be boarding up their, the windows
27:23of their shops because there doesn't, no one is expecting the buildings to collapse.
27:30Absolutely.
27:30I think that was, that was far from everyone's mind.
27:34Um, when we got to the other side, the cop said to us, okay, low Manhattan's been evacuated.
27:38Everyone across the Brooklyn bridge, off you go.
27:41At that point, Bob said to me, where do you live?
27:42I said, look, I live there.
27:43That's my apartment block.
27:44There, there, there.
27:45So he said, right, let's go back there.
27:47So we kind of started cutting across the crowds.
27:50The, um, loads of people, as I said, you can clearly see that low Manhattan was being evacuated.
27:59People were, hundreds of people walking, a lot of people just standing around looking.
28:02And as we turned the corner from the church, um, I looked up at the buildings for the first
28:09time and where our floor should have been, there was this huge gaping hole and I could see
28:17bits of building falling down, the noise, honestly, the banging, the crashing.
28:22And there was this awful kind of like twacking sound that I kept hearing.
28:26And I just stood there and cried.
28:28And, you know, Bob and I were looking at each other and looking up.
28:30And then he said to me, what's the time?
28:32And that is the only time during the day that I can tell you what the time was, because
28:35he said, what's the time?
28:36And it was 943.
28:38We carried on.
28:39I was just crying.
28:40We carried on just walking through the crowds.
28:42A couple of cops stopped us.
28:43You know, where are you going?
28:44You're supposed to be going that way.
28:45No, no, no.
28:45I live there.
28:46I live there.
28:46So they let us go.
28:48But just in terms of the context of the rest of the day, why was that time so significant
28:55to you?
28:56And why does it stick in your mind, given what is about to happen and what we know now
29:00to have happened?
29:02To me, I think that that is the only time during that day that I knew exactly what the
29:06time was.
29:06The rest of it is very much a blur.
29:08And that's one of the things I cling on to, because a lot of it is a blur.
29:12I mean, I can remember things, what happened, but the actual details, what floor were you
29:16on, how far had you come?
29:17Things like that would just kind of, I was just, I think, going through the motions, but
29:21guided by this wonderful man, you know, this absolute hero.
29:26So we eventually crossed the highway.
29:27We get into my apartment.
29:28As we walk into the building, one of the concierge guys comes running over.
29:34You okay?
29:34You okay?
29:35I said, yeah, yeah.
29:35It's not my blood.
29:36It's not my blood.
29:37I'm showing you my shirt.
29:38It's not my blood.
29:39So we go up to my apartment.
29:40My apartment's on the 17th floor.
29:42But at this stage, the South Tower is still standing.
29:45They're both still standing.
29:46So when was the first moment where you, even if you weren't aware of it, realised or heard
29:54something that indicated that the South Tower was in fact coming down?
29:59It was more the sounds than anything else.
30:04A really huge bang and then bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
30:09And everyone on the TV, the tower's falling, the tower's falling.
30:12And you have the news on at this stage.
30:14I have the news on at this stage.
30:15You're calling friends all the time.
30:17Yeah.
30:17But the TV is on and you're aware of it happening.
30:21And, you know, the electricity is still working so that you're still able to do this at this
30:26stage.
30:26So I ran to the window on that side, I looked over that side and I could see the tower
30:31had
30:31actually fallen.
30:33I came running back in and I sat down and started calling people.
30:37And then suddenly, and I know it's like 25 minutes afterwards, this absolute roar.
30:44Now, I don't know what the gates of hell sound like, but I'm pretty sure it's like this.
30:49This absolutely almighty roar and then bang, bang, bang, so much louder than before.
30:55The windows started humming and I'd crockery and the dishwasher started rattling.
31:00The television flicked off, the lights flicked off.
31:05The noise, oh, the noise was just incredible.
31:08And then suddenly I stood there mesmerised as this cloud of dust.
31:13It was black, just started swirling around all the windows.
31:17And I just stood there and watched it mesmerised as it covered all the windows.
31:23And it was black and it was so dark in my apartment.
31:27I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.
31:31It's so noisy, the windows, the crockery, the building's still moving.
31:36The roar from outside is still going on.
31:39And I remember just sitting down on the sofa, pulling my knees up to me,
31:43rocking backwards and forwards and crying.
31:44I'm going to die, I'm going to die.
31:48This is it, I'm going to die.
31:51And when I dream about it now, that seems to go on forever.
31:57In reality, it was probably three, four, five minutes maybe.
32:01And the building shudders and stands still.
32:04The humming stops and rattling stops.
32:07The roar stops.
32:09I can still hear noises from outside, but nowhere near as bad.
32:12And then bit by bit, the black goes to swirling dust and clouds.
32:17And then I ran over to the other side of the window and looked down.
32:20Both towers were down.
32:21Both towers were down.
32:26The next day, so Wednesday the 12th of September, Eileen and I went to the help desk.
32:31Took us a long time to get there.
32:33Again, the trains were all over the place, but we got there.
32:35We got there about 11.30.
32:36As we walked in, Sue gave me the list of names of people that were still missing.
32:41And it had come down from 80 to 60, which is amazing.
32:45As people had taken seven hours to get home, the list had come down as people were found and safely
32:50home.
32:51And as I looked down the list, I saw Dan and Dominic.
32:55And I saw Steve and Jose.
32:57So of the last five people I saw on our floor, four were missing.
33:02And as I looked further down, I saw Paul and Bobby.
33:06And I remember Paul's last words to me.
33:09Come on, old woman, as he disappeared.
33:12And I looked further down and I saw Kevin's name.
33:16Of course, September the 11th was a Tuesday, but by Friday the funeral started.
33:22It started very quickly.
33:24The message from all the directors was, you know, we know it's difficult, we know it's hard,
33:29but please try and go to as many funerals as you can, represent the company, show how much we love
33:33these people.
33:35The Eurobrokers total ended up 60 we lost on the day.
33:41And John, who was found with severe burns and was in hospital, he passed shortly afterwards.
33:47So the final toll on Eurobrokers was 61 people out of about 300.
33:54Americans do death really well.
33:57They celebrate that we were lucky enough to have this person in our life in the first place.
34:02And every funeral I went to, there was singing, there were stories, there was jokes, sometimes there were dancing.
34:09Absolute desperate tears, of course, but somehow it was slightly uplifting.
34:1861 funerals.
34:21To my utter shame, to my utter shame, I only went to 23.
34:29Sounds like a huge number to me.
34:3223 funerals out of 61, that's not good enough.
34:35That's not good enough.
34:38I let them down.
34:40I let the company down, I let myself down.
34:43They deserved a better friend, I think.
34:46There's not many things that keep me awake at night.
34:53Shame on me, shame on me.
34:56I don't think I'm ever going to forgive myself.
34:59I'll take this to the grave.
35:02I should have tried so much harder.
35:05New York, New Jersey is huge.
35:07But even in saying that, it sounds like an excuse.
35:12The only way that I can honour my friends now, the only way, is to talk about them, and to
35:19name them.
35:22And, you know, my life's not hard.
35:25This isn't fun, I don't love doing this.
35:28But I know, personally, 61 people that would change, would swap my life for theirs in an instant, right?
35:35So I have nothing to complain about.
35:37Janice, thank you so much for taking the time to tell your story once again.
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