11 Years Later, A Survivor Remembers 9/11

As people ran from the World Trade Center in the wake of the terrorist attacks 11 years ago today, Loganville resident Roopnarine Tony Persaud was one of them. He survived the attacks, but many of his friends didn’t.

Persaud said as an employee of Fidelity Investments in New York City, Sept. 11, 2001 was a normal working day for him.

“I worked in the 2^nd World Trade Center (Dow Jones Building), connected to the 1^st World Finance Center via a bridge over the West Side Highway,” Persaud said. “I would normally take the train from Queens to the WTC, which is the last stop, and I would normally arrive at the WTC around 08:40 and walk across the bridge to Fidelity for work at 9 a.m.”

On the day of the attacks, however, Persaud said his daughter overslept so he took her to school before going in to work.

“I decided to get off at Fulton Street, one stop before WTC, and grab a cup of Starbucks,” Persaud said. “As I was walking to the front of the WTC, I noticed a lot of commotion, firefighter etc rushing toward the building, but I sort of ignored it because it was normal to have false alarms at the WTC.” 

Persaud said it was only when his cell phone buzzed at about 08: 57 a.m. that he found out what was happening.

“It was my mom who was watching TV at home saying not to go in the WTC - that a plane had crashed,” Persaud said, adding it was just a few minutes later the sound of the second plane was heard before it went on to hit the second building.

“Everyone starting to run away, and I dropped my Starbucks and ran also,” Persaud said. “We ran toward the Brooklyn Bridge area and walked over to Brooklyn with thousands of people. It was while walking over the bridge I believe the first tower fell.”

Read the full story on Loganville-Grayson Patch