The man that survived in the impact zone of the South Tower and escaped

Here is a more detailed description of the story (Stanley/Brian): Stanley Praimnath was in the elevator up to his office on the 81st floor when the first plane hit the north tower. He didn't hear anything. He just saw the aftermath of the impact which he described as "Fire balls falling down from the other building". Stanley asked a female coworker called Delise, who stood at the copier making copies, to come over to see the damage. She immediately got scared and wanted to leave the building. Stanley agreed so he made his way down with Delise and many others from his office (including the General Manager and the Head of Human Resource). They went down to the Lobby on the ground level via the elevators. Stanley stepped out of the elevator and wanted to walk through the turnstile when a security guard stopped him. He told Stanley and the rest of the group to go back up again because the South Tower was secure and there was no need to evacuate. At the same moment the PA system made a similar announcement. Delise stepped out of the elevator and said to Stanley: "I'm scared. I wanna go home". Stanley was her project manager and permitted her to go home against the will of his bosses, who thought it would be irresponsible to sent people home since they would have a busy day ahead. Luckily Stanley had the strong will to stand up to his bosses which in the end saved Delise's life. Stanley still had a decision to make for himself. Go home or go back up? Pure pressure by the security guard and his coworkers put him on that elevator and back up again to the 81st floor. This was the last time Stanley would see his coworkers. They all died that day. Reaching his personal desk (on the south side of the South Tower) the phone rang. A lady from the Chicago office was on the line. She didn't want anyone to pick up, hoping that everybody from Stanley's office had already evacuated. She begged Stanley to leave. He argued with her when he spotted a small dot coming from the direction of the Statue of Liberty. He soon realized it was a plane and saw it aiming towards him. At the last moment he yelled out a prayer and dove under his desk. After the impact Stanley was temporally deaf, his desk was the only one left standing, every wall was mangled, the ceiling had collapsed, the sprinkler system was on, the wires from the ceiling were short circuiting and the air pressure was sucking everything out. Thinking he would die if he stayed there he decided to crawl to the stairwells. He only was able to reach the Communication room where one wall stood firm. This was the moment he yelled for help because he realized he could not get out by his own. Brian Clark worked on the 84th floor and survived the impact mainly because his personal office was on the West Side of that floor and the second plane hit the east side of that building. He gathered a group of coworkers and was able to select the only passable staircase (Stairwell A) by chance. When they reached the 81st floor landing they were stopped by a lady and her coworker which told them: "You can't go down. We just came of a floor with smoke and flames. We have to go higher". The group started to debate what to do, when Brian heard the yells of Stanley Praimnath. He grabbed the nearest coworker (Ron DiFrancesco) and was able to enter the 81st floor. The rest of the group, including the lady and her coworker decided to go up to find an escape route via the roof. Ron DiFrancesco, helping Brian Clark, got overwhelmed by the smoke on the 81st floor so he turned back and joined the group going up. He was the one who turned around and the last one out of the South Tower before it collapsed (waking up 3 days later in a hospital). Brian Clark on the other hand did not have any troubles breathing on the 81st floor and was able to find and save Stanley by helping him over that wall. After embracing each other (which includes kisses, exchanging names and creating a blood brotherhood) they made their way back to the 81st floor landing and decided to go down instead. On the 44th floor (Sky Lobby) they encountered a security guard with an injured man. He asked them to call for Emergency Services once they reach a working phone. On the 31st floor they got into Oppenheimer Space. Brian's company used to work on the 31st floor, but in the North Tower. After the 93 bombing the company moved to the 84th floor of the south tower. Knowing the 31st floor had reentering doors he decided to look for a working phone there. Luckily Brian was able to get a phone connection inside a conference room. He was able to call his wife and tell her he was safe on the 31st floor. This information turned out to be problematic. After the 93 bombing it took Brian 2 hours to exit the building. His wife knew of that fact and thought it would be the same this time. When she saw the building collapse 20 minutes later she thought her husband was dead, not knowing that the stairwell A was not cramped at all and Brian was able to move much faster. Stanley was not able to reach his own wife and left her a voice mail. After that Brian called 911 to let them know of the injured man on the 44th floor. He had to speak with 3 different persons to deliver that message. An incident which got picked up by the 9/11 commission to improve the Emergency Response and communication process in a crisis. After their phone calls Stanley and Brian were able to go down, leaving the WTC complex via the south-east exit. They went south. At a small shop Brian asked for water because they were thirsty. The man from the shop brought them water and a breakfast platter, telling them: "No ones coming for this one. Just take it." They walked down to Trinity Church where they encountered two priests and decided to pray and go into the church. Stanley turned around, looked at their tower and predicted the collapse, when shortly after the tower actually collapsed . During the collapse Stanley and Brian ran and entered 42 Broadway to get away from the dust cloud. Brian still carried the breakfast Platter, which turned out to be a blessing for everyone who took shelter inside the building :) Stanley and Brian talked for 45 minutes (the north tower collapsed during that time period). Stanley gave Brian his personal business card with his home address and phone number, because he owned a small business with his wife. They exited the building on the other side. On Broad Street they got separated. Brian made his way to the ports on the east side taking a ferry to New Jersey. Stanley on the other hand ordered a man with a pickup truck to drive him to Brooklyn where he would take a train to his home town. Later that evening Brian called Stanley, but not reaching him. Stanley called back in the middle of the night. They kept in touch, becoming close friends, visiting the wedding of each others children and traveling the world together to share their stories. Just one of the 9/11 survivor stories with a more positive note and one of my personal favorites.

I remember as an 11-year-old child in 2006 I was totally riveted when Brian Clark came to our church in Nebraska in September of that year and instead of a sermon they just had Brian tell his story for an hour around the 5 year anniversary of 911. I will always remember him talking about his friend Jose Marrero that he saw walking up the steps as Brian was walking down the steps. And Brian‘s story about having dreams where he (Jose) was standing at the foot of his bed like an angel, just smiling.

These two men became very good friends and they stayed in touch. Its hilarious to see them giving interviews together. Theyre like brothers from another mother today. They both credit the other for saving their life that day. And its true. Without the other, both would not be here today without the intervention of the other.

Imagine if one day, without warning, all of your coworkers died. I hope Stan’s life has been as smooth as possible since the attacks bc living through something like this would be brutal.

Brian Clark worked on the 84th floor as an executive at Eurobrokers in the South Tower which was also in the impact zone, he heard Stanley crying out for help once he got down to the 81st floor. As far as I know, Stanley, Brian and 16 others survived and escaped while everyone else perished.

This is perhaps the most famous story of escape on 9/11. It is amazing tale that is as compelling now as it was then.

Stanley and Brian have retold this story many times. Stanley actually went down to the lobby. When other managers decided to return to their offices they teased him and he joined them.

It was a woman who told them the stairs were full of smoke and there was no way out, and that they needed to go up. We do know what happened to the people who followed that woman up. The one survivor said that they came to a door that could not be opened. By this time the stairs were full of smoke, and people were becoming overwhelmed with them inhaling smoke. The survivor said that people sat down and began passing out. He felt himself being overwhelmed, but the thought of never seeing his kids again gave him a rush of adrenaline, he got up and charged down the stairs. He was the only survivor of the group.

Always follow your gut feelings.

It's crazy how someone survived a 767-200 plane going at 690 mph crashing into his office, Stanley is a blessed man, him and Brian's story of escape is incredible not to mention he said he was temporarily def because of the impact, it was so massive and loud it messed up his hearing for a bit and another person Florence Jones she said she felt the building move just like Brian Clark did and she said it felt like something stopped right over her head, insane.

I just realised that if the plane hadn't hit on such a weird angle in the South Tower, and had gone in straight like the first plane did, Stanley probably would've been killed instantly. The fact it hit on the right side of that face and on an angle likely saved his life. I think when he says the wing clipped his office he means the whole floor, as in, his office floor. Stanley's first language is not English and I've seen several interviews with him where he has a funny way of describing things, but that being said he has stated that he saw the plane coming towards him and his floor. It's also possible (actually quite likely) that the wing clip was a piece of the wing or some other debris which he thought was the wing.

Of course that was the great Stanley and the hero Brian Clark what a incredible history

Blame it on Jorge did a really fascinating “lost footage” video on 9/11 a few days ago. Basically, trying to find a photographer that was in the North Tower on the morning of 9/11 photographing for a conference they were having at Windows on the World before the plane hit that day. So early morning.

Imagine all the people in the south tower above floor 76 That were watching what was going on in the north tower overlooking the plaza. They would’ve been watching people jump because they were trapped to being in the exact same situation themselves. They were probably thanking God that it was the other tower and not theirs

For some reason I feel you should cover Hurricane Katrina. For me, that was another big event in the early 2000s like 9/11.

Ohh how I appreciate these visuals (photos of locations)! Well done. Thank you.

Stan the Man !!!!

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the WTC. When I went to New York, both times I went. The only time I’ve seen the Statue of Liberty was from the windows of the South tower observation deck. at one point during the exploration with my friend we got off the elevators and there was a floor and it was empty like the screenshot of this video. I was dumbfounded there were no walls and it looked very strange to me. I didn’t understand the construction at the time. Your videos are great. Keep them coming.

This is one of your better video’s because you’ve used a diagram so as viewers can visualise the floor layout, the info on the elevator crashing thru on the 76th floor is something I haven’t heard before.

Yeah, Stanley's survival was pure luck or devine intervention.