Update on Craig's experience at the World Trade Center building on Tuesday the 11th of September 2001.

If you refer to the picture above, it was taken from the 107th story of the now destroyed World Trade Center building.  It is a shot of 1 Liberty Plaza which is where I work (the tall black building).  I arrive into the World Trade Center everyday on a subway (PATH) train and regularly grab some breakfast in the building and then go over to 1 Liberty Plaza.

I also spend many lunch hours in the park to the right of the building.

I had just finished calling Karen from the lobby of The Millennium Hotel (which is just off frame to the left of the picture) which is right across the road, when the second plane hit the second tower, the one I was standing in when this picture was taken.

This picture and kinds like it can never be taken again.

For those of you who don't know, these are BlackBerry's.  I have the larger unit and this was my ONLY form of communication with the outside world during the disaster because the cell networks were down and when they came back, they were flooded with calls (for obvious reasons).

The full story:

I was sitting on the subway (PATH) as usual, commuting on my way to the World Trade Center.  A NYPD officer got on the train at Exchange Place, the station just before the WTC stop.  This in itself is not unusual because they do this all the time, just commuting themselves.

On our journey, his radio came to life and the voice said "A huge explosion has been witnessed at the World Trade Center buildings.  It was witnessed from Exchange Place".

I started wondering how nobody was actually getting panicked because everyone was just calmly listening to music, reading or sleeping as usual.  Maybe they just didn't hear it, or listen to exactly what they said.

Now remember we were rolling right towards the World Trade Center.  At this time we didn't know that is was a plane strike, but I was definitely worried that we were rolling towards a bomb site.

When the train stopped, like normal, everyone got out, but right away you could smell burning.  The PATH station is right at the bottom of the building, right at the bottom of the basement.

We went up the escalators to the second to bottom level where they have news shops and restaurants, then up the second bank of escalators to the main Mall area.  Halfway up those escalators the security services and police started shouting for people to get out.  Remember that this was about 5 minutes after the plane hit.

I walked out of the nearest exit (for those of you who know, it was the exit by Sbarros).  The street was full of crap.  Parts of plane and parts of the building (although I couldn't recognize the plane parts I now know that they were there).

Paper everywhere.  I walked over the street.  Hundreds of people were standing looking up in disbelief.

I looked up to see what I can only describe as a scene from a movie.  Special effects are very good these days and at the time it looked like a scene from Independence Day or Godzilla.

Huge hole in the building, fire raging, debris falling, people jumping/falling out of the hole to their death.

I tried to call on my cellular but no signal.  I think that the cell towers on top of the WTC or a power disruption had affected the cellular service.  I walked to into the lobby of the Millennium Hotel.  It is right over the road from the WTC.

I went to the desk and called Karen at work to tell her what was happening and that I was OK.

As I put the phone down I heard this huge noise of jet engines and then a massive explosion.  Very soon after, I saw tons of debris falling down.  I went to the window in the lobby and looked up.  I saw tons of debris falling from very high up in the second tower, and then all hell broke loose again.

Police rushed into the lobby and told everyone to get out and run north.

We all squeezed out of the side door, closest to the grave yard and started rushing north.  People were falling and tripping and having heart attacks from the stress.  I could see them being helped.

All of us walked north and stood now 3 blocks away.  We could see the 2 towers burning and the holes in them.  People still jumping out of the first tower.

I saw Carol's email on my Blackberry and replied letting her know I was OK.  The cell phones were still not working for anyone on any carrier, so I started emailing people on my BlackBerry.  I got replies from everyone which was a great help.  It was contact with people that was very important at this time.

While I was standing watching, I suddenly got a signal on my phone, called Karen again and spoke to her briefly.  She had popped downstairs to buy a $60 TV so she could watch.

I hung up with her and then the 2nd tower began to fall over.  From my vantage point it looked more like just the part above the plane strike was falling off but of course the whole thing came down.

I ran further north but now being chased by a HUGE cloud of debris.  Inside this cloud of debris, one can only imagine what was in there.

Cement and dry-wall for sure, but body parts, parts of people's offices, pieces of metal, everything that had now fallen from the 90th floor.

I typed another hurried message to Karen on my BlackBerry saying that the tower had collapsed and that we were running north.

We continued north, still surround by this cloud of debris.  People were getting squashed up against fences in the panic, but these incidents were few and far between.  Mostly it was orderly.  People were panicked for sure, but not insane.

I continued north, walking quite a distance, not even realizing it until later.  I stopped at Washington Park, which was at the boundary of the blocked off area to the north of the WTC.

There I hung out.  I saw a woman crying and asked if I could help.  She told me threw her tears that her husband worked in the WTC towers and that she couldn't contact him.

I tried his number over and over and only got his voicemail.  Terribly sad!  What more could I do?  Nothing.

A while later she left to walk further north.

I was approached by some Israeli dude who started spouting stuff about how they could work things out in Israal, etc.

I wasn't interested and then politely left to go and buy something to drink and eat.

I drank a 7UP and downed a packet of M&M's while I stood around listening to the car radio on a guys truck.

I had been receiving emails from Karen the whole time on my BlackBerry telling me about the other hijacked planes and that one had hit the Pentagon.  This news brought it home that this was a huge attack.

I then decided to walk further north to 18th street where one of my colleges has an apartment.  I joined 3 other of my colleges there, and then sort of hung out there some more.

I waited until the trains started running again, and then went to get a bus.  The busses were running but for some reason not coming to the stop I was at, so I just walked to New York Penn station.

I arrived at around 7PM and got home at around 9PM.

Upon arriving, more of the reality hit home, because a usually empty parking lot at my station stop was about a quarter full.

Some of those people were trapped in the city like me, but some would never be returning to their cars.

Update: 12/24/2001

Well its the day before Christmas and September 11th seems far away, but not that far away.  We moved back to 1 Liberty Plaza on the 3rd of December 2001 and it is a bit spooky going to work right over the road from a mass grave and site of terrible things.