Stanley Praimnath

Stanley Praimnath (* 1956 in Guyana ) is a survivor of the attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York on September 11, 2001 . He worked in the south tower, which was hit by the second plane. While he was sitting at his office desk in the building, he saw the plane heading for the WTC. This makes him one of the few survivors who could see the plane from inside the building.

After the north tower was hit by the first plane, Praimnath wanted to leave the tower. However, he was asked to return to his office by a security officer. He says that just as he got back to his office on the 81st floor, he saw the second plane hit the right of his office window. According to him, just twenty feet from the desk under which he was seeking refuge, the burning wing of the second plane struck his office door.

Praimnath was trapped in ruins. However, when he noticed that Brian Clark and several other of his colleagues were descending the only free flight of stairs, he managed to get Clark's attention to himself. Of the people on the floor where the second plane flew into, only sixteen other people besides himself and Clark survived. All other employees who were on the 81st floor at the time were killed in the rubble of the WTC.

Clark credits Praimnath's aid to his own survival. Clark's group disagreed on whether to run to the roof to wait for the helicopter evacuation, or rather try to get outside through the stairwell, although they were told it was impossible. While Clark was liberating Praimnath, his group was already on the way to the roof and was killed when the South Tower collapsed. Clark and Praimnath try to get down the stairwell instead and survived.

filming

Praimnath's story, along with other survivor stories, was featured in the BBC documentary "9/11 The Two Towers" which aired on September 7, 2006.

Web links

• Tales of Survivors - Stanley Praimnath
• Stanley Praimnath's story 15 years after 9/11 on time.com (English video)

Individual evidence