C U R R E N T
F E A T U R E S T O R Y
by the Editors of ReligionToday
September 18, 2001
Surviving the 81st Floor of World Trade Tower Two
A testimony of God's hand of protection amidst tragedy
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, began like any other day for Bethel
Assembly of
God deacon and Sunday school superintendent Stanley Praimnath of
Elmont,
Long Island. He got up early, took a shower, prayed, got ready
and
headed for work. The drive was uneventful. The train ride was the
same.
Yet, this day he would see the hand of God spare his life.
"For some particular reason, I gave the Lord a little extra
of myself
that morning [during prayer]," Stanley said. "I said, 'Lord,
cover me
and all my loved ones under your precious blood.' And even though
I said
that and believed it, I said it over and over and over."
When Stanley arrived at World Trade Center Tower Two, he took the
elevator up to his office on the 81st floor. "I work for the
Fuji Bank
Limited," he said. "I'm an assistant vice president in
the loans
operations department. The company is located on the 79th through
82nd
floors."
Stanley greeted Delise, a woman who had arrived before him. After
talking briefly, he headed over to his desk and picked up his
phone to
retrieve his messages.
"As I'm standing there retrieving my messages, I'm looking
out at the
next building, One World Trade, and I saw fire falling through
from the
roof," Stanley said. "Now, this entire building is
surrounded by glass,
and you can stand up and from there you can see all the buildings,
planes and everything flying at the same altitude."
As Stanley saw "fire balls" coming down, his first
reaction was to think
of his boss who works in that building. He decided to try to call
him to
see if he was OK. "I'm dialing his number, and getting no
response. So,
I say to Delise, the temp, 'Go, go, go -- let's get out.'"
Delise and Stanley got on the elevator and went down to the 78th
floor.
Some other people were there. The company's president, the CEO,
the
human resources director and two other men joined the group and
headed
down to the concourse level of Two World Trade Center.
If they had continued on and exited the building, all of their
lives
would have been spared. As it was, that's not the way it happened.
"As soon as we reached the concourse level, the security
guard stopped
us and said, 'Where are you going?' Stanley explained about
seeing the
fire in Tower One. According to Stanley, the guard said, "Oh,
that was
just an accident. Two World Trade is secured. Go back to your
office."
That turned out to be fatal advice -- aside from Stanley, Delise
was the
only one of that group to survive.
"We were joking, and I told [Human Resources Director] Brian
Thompson,
'This is a good time to think of relocating this building -- it's
not
safe anymore.'" Stanley headed back to his office, but
before he got
there, he told Delise, that with the events of the day, she
should go
home and relax.
Thompson went to the 82nd floor, the president and CEO went to
the 79th
floor and Stanley got out on the 81st floor. When Stanley got to
his
office, his phone was ringing. "It was someone from Chicago
calling to
find out if I'm watching the news," he said. He told the
caller
everything "was fine."
But everything wasn't fine -- far from it. As Stanley was talking,
he
looked up and saw United Air Lines Flight 175 heading straight
for him.
"All I can see is this big gray plane, with red letters on
the wing and
on the tail, bearing down on me," said Stanley. "But
this thing is
happening in slow motion. The plane appeared to be like 100 yards
away,
I said 'Lord, you take control, I can't help myself here.' "
Stanley then dove under his desk. "My Testament [Bible] was
on top of my
desk," explained Stanley. "I knew, beyond a shadow of a
doubt, that the
Lord was going to take care of me once I got there." As he
curled into a
fetal position under his desk, the plane tore into the side of
the
building and exploded.
Miraculously, Stanley was unhurt. However, he could see a flaming
wing
of the plane in the doorway of his department. He knew he needed
to get
>out of his office and the building fast. But, he was trapped
under
debris up to his shoulders.
"Lord, you take control, this is your problem now," he
recalled praying.
"I don't know where I got this power from, but the good Lord,
He gave me
so much power and strength in my body that I was able to shake
everything off. I felt like I was the strongest man alive."
All the while, Stanley was asking the Lord to spare his life.
"I'm
crying and I'm praying, 'Lord, I have things to do. I want to see
my
family, Lord, help me through.'"
Stanley's office resembled a battle zone -- walls flattened into
dusty
heaps, office equipment strewn violently, flames flickering about
and
rubble everywhere.
"Everything I'm trying to climb on [to get out] is
collapsing and I'm
going down," he said. "I'm getting cuts and bruises,
but I'm saying,
'Lord, I have to go home to my loved ones, I have to make it, You
have
to help me.' "
Suddenly Stanley saw the light of a flashlight. For a moment, it
stunned
him. "What were the chances of someone bringing a flashlight
to this
floor?" he thought. "My first gut reaction was, 'This
is my guardian
angel -- my Lord sent somebody to save me!' "
Stanley began screaming, "I see the light, I see the light."
But after
clawing his way through the debris, he realized that he couldn't
get out
- all the exits were blocked and his "guardian angel"
couldn't get to
him--a wall was between him and the staircase. "He can't get
to me and I
can't get to him, and by this time I can't breathe," Stanley
said. "I
don't know if it was sulfur or what [burning jet fuel, perhaps],
but I
can smell this thing. I got down on my knees and said, "Lord,
you've got
to help me. You've brought me this far, help me to get to the
staircase."
But then Stanley did something surprising. While praying on his
knees,
he called out to the man behind the wall, "There's one thing
I got to
know, do you know Jesus?" The man replied he went to church
every
Sunday. Then they prayed together to enable them to break through
the
wall.
"I got up, and I felt as if a power came over me," said
Stanley. "I felt
goose bumps all over my body and I'm trembling, and I said to the
wall,
'You're going to be no match for me and my Lord.' " Moments
later, he
punched his way through the wall and, with the help of the man on
the
other side, was able to squirm his way through the hole in the
wall.
"The guy held me and embraced me and he gave me a kiss and
he said,
'From today, you're my brother for life.' "
But the danger wasn't over. The man on the other side of the wall,
who
introduced himself as Brian, was an older man and they still had
81
floors to walk down, with the building on fire and, unknown to
them, in
danger of collapse. "We hobbled our way down, and at every
floor we
stopped to see if anybody was there, but nobody was, except a man
was on
the floor, and his back was gone, and he was covered in blood."
Stanley asked to be allowed to carry the man out, but a security
guard
told him it would be better to send somebody up. When they
finally made
it down to the concourse, only firefighters were there. "They
were
saying, 'Run! Run! Run!', they were telling us to run out, but
they were
not concerned about themselves," he said.
Stanley and Brian would have run from the building, but now the
concourse was surrounded with fire. Wetting themselves under the
building's sprinkler system, they held hands and ran through the
flames
to safety at Trinity Church, about two blocks away. "I
wanted to go to
the church to thank God," Stanley explained, "As soon
as I held onto the
gate of that church, the building [World Trade Center Tower Two]
collapsed."
Stanley and Brian made their way safely out of the danger area.
Before
they parted, Stanley gave his business card to Brian in hopes of
contact
at a later time, and said, "If I don't see you, I'll see you
in heaven."
Cut and bloodied, with clothes tattered and wearing a borrowed
shirt,
Stanley finally made it home hours later to his wife, Jennifer,
and his
>wo girls, Stephanie, 8, and Caitlin, 4. "I held my wife
and my two
children and we cried," said Stanley. After thanking God for
sparing his
life, Stanley told God whatever he did, it will always be for His
glory.
"I'm so sore, but every waking moment, I say 'Lord, had you
not been in
control, I would not have made it.'
"For some divine reason, I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt,
that the
good Lord's mighty hand turned the plane a fraction from where I
was
standing," said Stanley. "Because when it crash-landed,
it was just 20
feet from me. I don't care who would rationalize -- what people
would
say now or years from now, but I know it was the handiwork of the
Lord
that turned that plane. My Lord Jesus is bigger than the Trade
Center
and His finger can push a plane aside!"
By Dan Van Veen, Assemblies of God News Service
Last up date September 22, 2001
