Morning of September 11, 2001 was nice and sunny. I decided to carry a camera with me on that day and maybe take a few photographs in downtown Manhattan before going to work. Like everyday before, I crossed Hudson River by ferry and arrived to World Trade Center area. I walked enjoying the great morning. Being just across the street from the WTC towers I heard the explosion in the close distance.

Suddenly the whole area around me was covered with debris. I noticed the car that was hit and had two flat tires, but the driver was trying to keep going. The other car was burning. When I looked above at 1 WTC I saw a little smoke. Like in everyone’s mind at this moment I had the simple explanation: unlucky pilot, probably small plane line Cessna hit the tower. Immediately I stared to take pictures to document this accident. I was running with my camera from one place to another trying to get the best perspective. After taking a series of pictures I slowed down and looked around me. I discovered that the street was covered not only by debris. I noticed shoes and other passengers' belongings, wires and electrical equipment probably from the airplane. Human flash was everywhere. Standing in the middle of the street, right at the entrance to the Tower Two I was beginning to understand what a tragedy took place here. It could not be a small plane.

At this moment hearing a coming sound I raised my head. No! This is not happening. A big passenger jet was right above me. It was a blink of an eye. A fraction of second later the airplane disappeared inside WTC tower. I was standing at the base of the building that was the target of terrorist attack. There was no place take the cover. It was to late to run away. All I could do was just to cover my head with my bare hands and wait for the miracle. Parts of the building and from the airplane were falling on the street around me. I was too scared to look at the explosion above me. When all this finished I quickly left the area.

I went to nearby office building where I worked at that time. It was on Broadway about 2 minutes walk from the towers. I jumped to the elevator. When I got to my office I realized that I was the only one on that floor. The building was evacuated. I reached the phone and called my wife. I was sure at this moment that the worst has already happened and there is no need to leave my building. My wife was watching news and she insisted that I should leave the dangerous area as quickly as possible. I agreed. On my way downstairs I heard something like the explosion and felt the shake of my building. It was like during the earthquake. I had no idea what caused this. When I got to the ground floor I saw the group of scared people covered in gray ash. 'What happened?' was my first question. Nobody really knew. Somebody told me that the explosion was from the third plane that hit the ground. Actually it was the moment when the 2 WTC tower collapsed, but I did not know about it. It was completely dark outside. I could not see the towers. Everything was covered with dust. I went on the street and came back to the building as quickly as possible. The dust was so condensed that there was no air to breathe. All I could do at this moment was just wait.

When dust felt on the ground and the sky showed up again I left the building. Streets were like snow covered. I went one block when I heard the explosion. It was like a bomb. I was not sure what to do and which direction to escape. I looked around. Than I saw a huge cloud of smoke heading in my direction and a man running in front of it. I started to run too. The cloud was faster and quickly covered me. I was willing to loose this race, but I could not breathe inside this cloud. The only way to survive was to run away. I ran faster and faster. Probably the smoke slowed down and finally I was in front of it. I saw a man waving in my direction and showing a place to hide. I jumped quickly into the nearby store and the man sealed the door. I was all covered in ash, so was everything outside once again. Later I learned that it was the collapse of second tower.

It took me another few hours to reach my home. Later in my garment I found pieces of glass from WTC's windows that fell on me when airplane exploded above my head.

Maciej Swulinski