He has told the story hundreds of times, but it never seems to fade.
asserted
it → tell → times
If anything, it only becomes more vivid.
asserted
it → become → ?
“Oh, gosh,” exclaims Stanley Praimnath, his voice cracking with an “ooooooh!” as if bearing a weight.
asserted
voice → exclaim → weight
“It’s like reliving that day.”
asserted
It → ’ → day
Nearly 3,000 people died in the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC on September 11 2001.
asserted
people → die → September
But Praimnath and another office worker, Brian Clark, were two of only four individuals known to have survived from above the impact zone in either tower of the World Trade Center.
asserted
Praimnath → know → Center
The two strangers met in the smoke and fire of the 81st floor of the south tower, and walked down 1,620 steps into the rest of their lives.
asserted
strangers → meet → lives
Their split-second decisions that day made all the difference.
asserted
decisions → make → difference
Over the next 25 years, both men moved from middle age into old age and retirement.
asserted
men → move → age
Both enjoyed family weddings and watched children and grandchildren grow.
asserted
children → enjoy → weddings
Both saw US presidents come and go as old wars ended and new wars began.
asserted
wars → see → ?
They remained friends through it all.
asserted
They → remain → it
They also told their story – countless times – in churches, schools, TV studios and elsewhere.
asserted
They → tell → churches
“It could be 800, 1,200, a number like that,” Clark estimates.
uncertain
Clark → estimate → that
Praimnath, in a separate interview, muses: “People refer to me as ‘the 9/11 guy’.
asserted
People → muse → guy
It doesn’t feel repetitive.
asserted
It → feel → ?
It is like unloading baggage from my shoulder, like washing my soul with tears.
asserted
It → unload → tears
It is comforting to know that people out there still want to hear.”
asserted
people → know → ?
A cry for help
Clark is now 79, living in retirement in northern New Jersey with his wife; he has 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
asserted
he → live → grandchildren
Praimnath, a decade younger, lives in Valley Stream, Long Island; he is a pastor, grandfather and empty-nester who speaks of his survival not as luck, but as an act of God’s grace.
asserted
who → live → grace
Clark, a Canadian who was executive vice-president at the financial brokerage firm Euro Brokers, arrived at his office on the 84th floor around 7.15am.
asserted
who → arrive → 7.15am
Down on the 81st floor, the Guyanese-born Praimnath had settled into his desk at Fuji Bank, where he worked as a loan officer.
asserted
he → bear → officer
At 8.46am, the peace was shattered by a deafening double boom as the hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the north tower.
asserted
Flight → shatter → tower
Clark recalls: “The lights above me flickered and I spun around in my chair and my peripheral vision caught flames against the window.
asserted
vision → recall → window
Two or three seconds later, the flames dissipated and the airspace was filled with singed paper.”
asserted
airspace → dissipate → paper
Having volunteered as a floor fire warden after the 1993 World Trade Center truck bombing, Clark sprang into action.
asserted
Clark → volunteer → action
He retrieved an official torch marked “WTC fire safety team” from an overhead cabinet and began shepherding staff toward the building’s central corridor.
asserted
He → retrieve → corridor
Co-workers crowded against the north-facing windows, gazing up nine stories at the raging “ring of fire” consuming their twin building.
asserted
workers → crowd → building
Thinking the emergency was confined next door, Clark phoned his wife at home and his father in Toronto, reassuring them that he was safe.
asserted
he → think → them
Three floors below, Praimnath was on the telephone with a colleague in Chicago who had witnessed the north tower explosion on television and begged him to evacuate.
asserted
who → witness → him
He was looking towards the Statue of Liberty when he spotted another plane – so close that he could make out the “U” on the tail of United Airlines Flight 175.
uncertain
he → look → Flight
“On a given day, it was normal for a plane to zoom by a half a mile to a mile away,” he recalls.
asserted
he → give → mile
“But this plane is coming towards me.
asserted
plane → come → me
I made eye contact.
asserted
I → make → contact
I dropped the phone and screamed and said, ‘Lord, I can’t do this.
asserted
I → drop → this
You take over’.
asserted
You → take → ?
I don’t know why I said that – but thank God I said that.”
asserted
I → know → that
Praimnath dived under his desk in the foetal position, weeping and praying as the Boeing 767 bore down on his window.
asserted
Boeing → dive → window
“With the most thunderous sound, the plane came and crashed into the building,” he says.
asserted
he → come → building
The aircraft struck diagonally at 9.03am, cutting through the 77th to 85th floors.
asserted
aircraft → strike → floors
…and 124 more, not listed.
