Survivor Accounts of Explosions and Chaos

Yeah, here's one of the guys. He can tell you I'm okay, all right? Here,

hold on.

You wanna call your-

Hold on

You wanna call your mother or something?

Close to me right now.

We gotta get back somehow. We know that.

All right.

We gotta get back.

All right. Slow down. Don't worry about me.

We need to make calls right now.

All right.

Let's-

There goes another one Hours after the attack many smaller

explosions rumbled through downtown 'Cause once the tower fell,

you heard boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom And we heard this boom,

boom, boom They were planned to take down a

building.

Boom,

boom, boom, boom, boom, boom All the way down So it's like boom,

boom, boom, boom,

boom, boom, boom, like that And then it started to sound like

firecrackers.

Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack.

And we looked up and the second tower was coming down There were numerous

secondary explosions taking place in that building.

It was con- there were continuous explosions She's been here

a long time and-

Arthur Delbianco is one of the lucky few able to tell a

tale of survival from a hospital bed She would--all of a sudden it was like

bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, like bullet shots,

and then there some three

tremendous explosions and everything started coming down

Delbianco was at work in the doomed Trade Towers when they were

attacked The force just pushed us to ground.

We were pushed up against marble slabs and other people with glass and

smoke. We were buried in that stuff He made it out with a broken

leg,

and today was reunited with his wife Oh.

Uh, we're, we're hearing a number of large booms

coming from that

area. We can only guess what is going on.

I got, uh, an eyewitness who said there

was an explosion on floor seven

and eight. Seven and eight.

This is Engine Dispatch. We've just had another explosion

Warren Street because of the secondary explosion.

We've got numerous people covered with dust from the secondary explosion.

And we got another explosion on the Tower, ten thirteen, ten thirteen Now

two has had a major explosion and what appears to be complete collapse

surrounding the entire area Was involved in a secondary, uh,

explosion Top to very high. And the lobby looked as though a bomb had

exploded there. It's unfor- uh, all the glass was taken out.

There were ten foot by ten foot,

uh, marble panels that were once walls, uh,

uh, they were loose from the, from the wall of the Trade

Center. I went around by the freight elevator

and I could see it was just

blown. It was just a giant sh- Thirtieth floor,

we hear another

explosion

I think a bomb went off in the lobby first, then a plane hit the building,

but then another plane hit the other building.

And, but when I was coming through the doors on

the other side of the

Trade Center,

something, either they blew the lobby up or,

or something, 'cause it blew the

glass out of the doors and knocked us all down, and I got, uh,

smoke

and everything on me.

I just feel a little shook up 'cause I got blasted, you know?

So I'm just trying to, you know...

I want a drink of water. They don't have any water out here

Can you tell me what happened? What'd you see?

I saw,

I don't know. I saw windows coming out of the building

and the ceiling falling on the floor where I was walking.

That's when we start heading for the exit.

And, um

-

Then we got downstairs-

We got to the fourth floor from getting to seventh floor

Or into the lobby, and all of a sudden there

was this big explosion out of

nowhere

Like everything went black

Just like what you've just seen. That's what we went through before we came

out of

the building. Then when we get out the building,

then another smoke cloud came.

Better go through that smoke cloud. Mama, I just want you to know I'm alright.

The ladies that are with me were in the World Trade Center on the, on,

in the first

building and escaped through the lobby where they report that they believe there

was a bomb in the lobby.

We ran down the steps to the lobby. There was no lobby.

Everything was torn up, and even the turnstile was

burnt and it was sticking up, and they just told us to run.

My boss ran out the office. He said one thing,

"Run." Everybody just ran, and we

ran down the stairs. They told us to come back up the stairs,

and we were like,

"Come back up the stairs? Are you crazy?"

Oh, man.

So we continued down the stairs. We came outside in the lobby. There

was no lobby.

The lobby was totally gone.

Did you see other people?

People. There was a woman there with her face

blown off.

And as we were coming out, we passed the lobby. There was no lobby.

So I believe the, the bomb hit the lobby first

and a couple of seconds than the

first plane.

Yeah. Hi. Um, I am just about, uh, between five and ten blocks

north of the actual site of where those two towers have come down.

We're obviously having a bit of trouble right now maintaining our location because

we just heard one more explosion. That's about the fourth one we've heard.

The police are telling us they're either car bombs or they are, uh,

simply cars that have overheated so much that they're exploding.

But every time one of those happens, there's a flurry of activity