Name Stanley Praimnath | ||
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"Plane coming towards me"
Stanley Praimnath: Remembering 9/11
Stanley Praimnath (born 1956 or 1957) is a survivor of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. He worked as an executive for Fuji Bank on the 81st floor of the South Tower (WTC 2), the second tower attacked that day. He was one of only eighteen survivors from the South Tower impact zone where the plane hit.
Contents
Events
When American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower, Praimnath started to evacuate from his 81st floor office in the South Tower, but he returned when the building's security guards said the South Tower was secure, and workers should return to their offices. Soon after reentering his office, he saw United Airlines Flight 175 heading directly towards him. Right before impact, he dove under his desk and exclaimed, "Lord, I can't do this! You take over!" The left wing sliced through his office and became lodged in a door 20 feet from him. Praimnath was bruised and covered in debris after the crash, which left him stuck and unable to escape on his own.
While Praimnath screamed for someone to come help him, Euro Brokers executive Brian Clark, from the 84th floor, and a group of his coworkers were debating in the stairwell whether to descend through the impact zone using the stairwell, which they had been told was impassable, or to climb to the roof. While Clark listened to his coworkers debating this, his attention shifted when he could hear Praimnath's faint screams for help. Clark made his way to Praimnath by using his flashlight and following Praimnath's voice. As Clark was on his way to find Praimnath, he quickly turned back towards his coworkers and saw they had decided to climb up the stairs instead of going down. Because they decided to ascend the stairs, all of Clark's coworkers were killed, except one.
Once Clark had found Praimnath, he could see there was a wall between them that had remained in place after impact. Clark instructed Praimnath that the latter's only option was to jump up and climb over the wall, which Praimnath did not think he was able to do. Praimnath's first attempt was unsuccessful, and he hit a piece of wood with a nail sticking out of it, piercing his hand in the process. Praimnath tried twice more to jump up, and finally Clark, on the other side of the wall, was able to get his hands around Praimnath and help him get over the wall.
The two men made their way to the stairwell, which Clark had already been told was blocked further down. However, Clark and Praimnath wanted to see for themselves if the stairs were really impassable. They descended down the stairs, and while there was debris in some spots, the two men were able to get through it and continue down the stairs and out of the building. They were two of only eighteen survivors from at or above the impact zone in the South Tower to survive that day. After the two men had made it outside and walked two blocks away from the South Tower, they stopped and looked back at the building they had just exited, and Praimnath said to Clark, "You know, I think that building can come down." Clark was in the midst of replying, "Those are steel structures, there's no way...", when he was cut off by the South Tower starting to collapse.
When the dust cloud from the collapsing South Tower neared them, they fled southwards and sought refuge in the lobby of 42 Broadway just as the cloud engulfed the area. There, they exchanged business cards. Clark returned to his home in New Jersey, while Praimnath was treated for his injuries at a hospital. Late that night, well past midnight, Praimnath, having been discharged from the hospital, eagerly contacted Clark to inquire about his well-being, inadvertently waking him. The two men who had never met before 9/11 remain friends to this day and have appeared on numerous shows and documentaries telling their stories.