Genelle Guzman was the last person to emerge alive from the wreckage of 20/11 XNUMX years ago.
▸ 9/11, 8:00 - Genelle arrives at her office, on the 64th floor of the north tower. She meets Rosa, her friend from the office, and they are getting ready to start their day.
▸9 / 11, 8:46 - Flight 11 is nailed to the north side of the North Tower, between the 93rd and 99th floors
"As Rosa and I were talking, we heard a huge explosion somewhere above us. The whole building began to move left and right.
"What was that; Earthquake;" Rosa asked me and we immediately went to the window with other office workers. "Papers and pieces of debris were falling from above, like a strange confetti."
Genelle had recently found a job as a temporary secretary at the Port Authority and her visa had expired.
So when the loudspeakers were heard urging them to stay where they are and not to panic, he obeyed. She did not want to draw attention to herself, they could deport her. Genelle and Rosa, also immigrants, did not leave with their colleagues. Within minutes their office was empty and only 15 people were left behind, obeying instructions from the loudspeakers. They turned on the TV and saw that people were talking about a terrorist attack. Genelle called Roger "Leave now!" he told her but it was too late, the elevators had stopped working.
▸9 / 11, 9:03 - Flight 175 is nailed to the south side of the South Tower, between floors 77 and 85
"When we heard the second explosion and realized that the second tower had been hit, Rosa, I and 13 others started the descent from the 64th floor, with the stairs. "Genelle, I do not think we will be able to get out of here," Rosa told me in a trembling voice. It was the first time I heard my girlfriend so scared. "Everything will be fine," I told her.
Genelle's voice was calm to reassure her friend. But inside she had begun to panic. The staircase was full of hundreds of employees coming down, and dozens of brave firefighters coming up…
"I was afraid to stop. Rosa was counting the floors… 47, 46, 40, 35 ". The two women were held tightly by the hand. The smoke and dust pinched their eyes and the high heels of the desk hurt their feet. The descent was very late.
"When we got to the 13th floor, I thought we could be safe, we could do it. I left Rosa's hand for a moment to take off my shoes and then I heard another explosion ".
9/11, 10:28 - The North Tower collapses, 1 hour and 42 minutes after the impact of Flight 11
"The force of the explosion made us fall to the floor. Rosa tried to get up and then we heard a frightening, deafening noise that was getting louder and louder. The staircase disappeared, everything became a mass around us. "Then it got dark."
The North Tower had collapsed. Genelle and Rosa, along with other civilians and rescuers, were buried under 110 floors of rubble. Genelle was the only one who survived.
Her body was stuck in a "concrete grave", the size of her body, that kept her alive. When he met it was already the next day
Throughout the night of September 11, Genelle faints and meets, sleeps for a while and wakes up. On September 12, she fully regains consciousness and realizes that she is buried alive.
Immobilized among tons of cement, she tries to feel her surroundings with her left hand, the only member that can move. He tries to hear something, anything, but the silence is deafening.
"I fell asleep again, I was in pain. The dust had begun to settle and so, I noticed a very faint ray of light. Will they ever find me? "I thought and started praying." After her mother died of cancer, Genelle's relationship with God was not good. Under the rubble, however, she found strength in prayer, as her mother would.
"We were great, I may not survive, not without a miracle. But the real miracle is that I found You again. Your will be done. I was saying this prayer when I heard a voice and I started trying to dig with my hand "
Genelle gathered all her strength and shouted "I AM HERE!" and dug until he saw a gray light. After a while she managed to open a hole through which her hand went and then the miracle happened: “I felt a warm strong hand catching mine. "He told me his name was Paul and I should not be afraid."
The attempt to free her took time as the debris had to be moved very carefully over her. When they took her out, the firefighters, the doctors, the police created a human chain that transported her stretcher from the dangerous wreckage and death, to safety and life.
The whole ground zero was cheering! 27 hours later all hope for survivors was lost but Genelle came out alive. He was the last man to be saved.