Last moments in the tower

last updated 8 January 2015

New York

Firefighters reached the crash zone on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center’s south tower and were helping injured people when the building collapsed, The New York Times reported this week. Investigators previously thought no crews made it past the 50th floor, but a long-ignored recording revealed that at least two firefighters managed to climb to an elevator lobby 78 floors up. Dozens of people were killed or wounded there when the wing of United Airlines Flight 175 sliced through it. Battalion Chief Orio Palmer and Fire Marshal Ronald Bucca radioed commanders that they were sending down 10 survivors. Then the building collapsed. Monica Gabrielle, whose husband, Rich, was alive but trapped, found the tape comforting. “At least he knew there was help,” she said, “and thought that they were getting out.”