A shower of hell from on high

By Fred Kaplan, Globe Staff, 9/11/2001

EW YORK - It was a billowing hell, an ashen war scene, as thousands fled the World Trade Center yesterday, sending the nation's largest city into a shudder of fear and uncomprehending mourning.

Thousands were able to escape the buildings between the explosions, but countless others - 50,000 work there daily - were trapped within, hurt or dead. Dozens of people leaped from up high, some charred by fire, as horrified rescue workers looked on.

''Oh, those poor people! Oh, those poor people, Oh, my God,'' a woman wailed as she fled.

More than 10,000 police, fire and rescue workers struggled to clear the entire lower half of Manhattan, as subways jammed, highways clogged and panicked pedestrians frantically called loved ones, fights breaking out over pay phones.

Manhattan became an isolated island; bridges and tunnels into the city were sealed off. The enormous municipality's resources were immediately taxed, with disruptions in power and phone service. The day's mayoral primary was canceled.

F-16 fighter planes flew over the scene. FBI and CIA vans pulled up to the base of the towers.

A woman in a red dress, running north from the World Trade Center minutes after the second blast, wailed, ''Oh my God, this city's in chaos!''

The first blast went off about 8:45 a.m., as a jet hit the top portion of one of the World Trade Center towers. But the building stayed firm, allowing for escapes.

One witness, Keith Butterfield, was working at a Xerox office building across from the World Trade Center, and sensed that the city was under attack, right after the first blast.

''We thought it was a bomb. Last week, there was a bomb-threat scare. We thought this was it,'' Butterfield said.

''Then we saw the fuselage of a plane, and body parts falling from the sky. There were body parts in front of us strewn all over the street.''

Clyde Ebanks, an insurance company vice president, was at a meeting on the 103d floor of the 110-story South Tower of the World Trade Center, when his boss said, ''Look at that.'' They turned, and they saw a plane go by their window and smash into the other building, flamed errupting.

They raced down the stairs. As they reached the 70th floor, they felt the building shake as the second plane hit. Later, in tears, soaked in gray ash, he said: ''I worry about some of my co-workers.''

Boris Ozersky, 47, computer networks analyst, was on the 70th floor of one of the buildings when he felt a shaking. He ran down 70 flights of stairs, and outside, into a mob in front of a nearby hotel. He was trying to calm a panicked woman when the building suddenly collapsed.

''I just got blown somewhere, and then it was total darkness. We tried to get away, but I was blown to the ground. And I was trying to help this woman, but I couldn't find her in the darkness,'' Ozersky said.

From afar, Lower Manhattan seemed cloaked in a dark, foreboding cloud, ashen and thick, its plume rising far into the sky. The smell of ash, dust, and fire was present miles away. Hundreds fleeing the explosion scene were covered in ghostly white ash, many with blood pouring from wounds.

People fainted, falling to the ground, as a crowd swelled in the streets of lower Manhattan. Many other tripped, but others were quick to help them up.

''Move it, move it,'' police loudspeakers shouted, as entire blocks were cordoned off with yellow police tape and concrete barricades. Red fire trucks, sirens blazing, sat aside hundreds of blue cruisers marked with the NYPD streamer.

Ambulances from every hospital in the city were diverted to Manhattan, but Mayor Rudolph W. Guiliani said on television that more were needed. City officials also sent out a call to all city personnel who had not been scheduled to work.

Volunteers were sought, and preparations were made to start a huge blood banking operations.

It was unclear how many people died yesterday morning. About 50,000 workers use the Trade Centers, and 150,000 tourists visit on an average day.

All the business in lower Manhattan, businesses including the New York Stock Exchange and dozens of financial services companies, were shut down.

Shirley Bates, who worked on the 88th floor of One World Trade Center, said she had seen a woman on her floor, with burns on her arms and legs, and singed hair. As Bates and others were evacuated, they heard a second explosion.

''Everything came like a tornado,'' she said. ''People started running.''

The survivors seemed in panic, in disbelief.

''I just saw the building I work in come down,'' said a businessman, Gabriel Ioan, shaking in shock outside City Hall. ''I just saw the top of Trade Two come down.''

Nearby, a crowd mobbed a man on a pay phone, screaming at him to get off the phone so that they could call relatives. Dust and dirt flew everywhere. Ash was 2 to 3 inches deep in places.

Raja Mishra of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Wire service material was included.

This story ran on page A7 of the Boston Globe on 9/11/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.