9/11 anniversary – Heartbreaking final words of September 11 victims and their desperate families resurface 17 years after Twin Towers attacks
The emotional farewells, desperate please for help, and stoic bravery of the people caught up in the tragedy have been laid bare in heart-wrenching audio
THE heartbreaking final phone calls of the tragic victims of 9/11 have re-emerged 17 years on from the day that changed the world.
In hard to listen to clips the fear, bravery and love of people aboard the doomed flights and in the soon to crumble towers are laid bare.
Husbands and wives can be heard giving tearful goodbyes while young people beg for help from the emergency services.
The recordings are available for visitors to New York’s 9/11 Memorial Museum to listen to through telephones fixed to the walls.
They are the last words of passengers, crew members and office workers who were among the 2996 killed when terrorists hijacked planes and crashed them into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
They may be the most difficult to listen to recordings you will ever hear.
Brian Sweeney, on board United Airlines Flight 175
Moments before United Airlines Flight 175 smashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, a passenger left a voicemail for the wife he’d left behind in Massachusetts.
The 38-year-old former Navy pilot left the following, heartrending voicemail on his wife’s phone: “Jules, this is Brian. Listen, I’m on an airplane that’s been hijacked.
“If things don’t go well, and it’s not looking good, I just want you to know that I absolutely love you.
“I want you to do good, go have good times — same to my parents and everybody — and I just totally love you … and I’ll see you when you get there.”
“Bye babe. I hope I call you.”
He also called his mum to say he loved her, and tell her the passengers were planning to fight back.
“They might come back here,” he said. “I might have to go. We are going to try to do something about this.”
Three minutes later, the plane crashed into the top floors of the South Tower.
Melissa Doi, on the 83rd floor of the South Tower
Melissa Doi was a Northwestern University graduate who dreamed of becoming a ballerina.
She worked as a manager at IQ Financial Systems on the 83rd floor of the South Tower, 2 World Trade Center.
This was her final phone call to 911.
Doi: “It’s very hot, I see … I don’t see, I don’t see any air any more!”
911: “OK …”
Doi: “All I see is smoke.”
911: “OK dear, I’m so sorry, hold on for a sec, stay calm with me, stay calm, listen, listen, the call is in, I’m documenting, hold on one second please …”
Doi: “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”
911: “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, say your — ma’am, say your prayers.”
Doi: “I’m going to die.”
911: “You gotta think positive, because you gotta help each other get off the floor.”
Doi: “I’m going to die.”
911: “Now look, stay calm, stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.”
Doi: “Please God …”
Kevin Cosgrove, on 105th floor of the South Tower
Kevin Cosgrove called emergency services from an office at 9.54am.
The 46-year-old father of three was trapped in an office with colleague Doug Cherry, trying to breathe through thick, black smoke.
This is what he said
Cosgrove: “Lady, there’s two of us in this office. We’re not ready to die but it’s getting bad.”
911: “We’re getting there.”
Cosgrove: “Doesn’t feel like it man, I got kids. There’s smoke really bad.”
911: “Sit tight and we’ll get to you as soon as we can.”
Cosgrove:” I know you’ve got a lot in the building but we’re up on the top. Smoke rises too. Come on, I can barely breathe now — can’t see. It’s really bad, it’s black, it’s arid. We’re young men, not ready to die.”
911: “Hello?”
Cosgrove: “Hello … there’s three of us, two broken windows … Oh God — oh!”
Suddenly the sounds of screams and falling debris fill the air as the call cuts off.
Melissa Harrington Hughes, trapped in one of the towers
Melissa Harrington Hughes was only in New York for one day on business.
That fateful morning she had gone for a breakfast meeting in one of the towers when the planes struck.
These were her final words to her husband Sean back in San Francisco.
She left a voicemail saying: “I just wanted to let you know I love you and I’m stuck in this building in New York.
“There’s lots of smoke and I just wanted you to know that I love you always.”
Cee Cee Ross-Lyles, flight attendant on board United Airlines Flight 93
Cee Cee Ross-Lyles was a stewardess working on board United Airlines Flight 93 when the plane was hijacked.
The mum-of-four called home twice, but could not reach her police officer husband, who was asleep following a night shift.
United 93 was the plane on which passengers and crew decided to fight the hijackers, and it was during the clash that it crashed in Pennsylvania, just 125 miles northwest of Washington, DC.
It’s believed their selfless bravery prevented a far worse tragedy, and saved potentially hundreds more lives.
In her emotional voicemail to the husband she would never see again she said: “Hi baby, I’m — baby, you have to listen to me carefully.
“I’m on a plane that’s been hijacked. I’m on the plane, I’m calling from the plane.
“I want to tell you that I love you. Please tell my children that I love them very much. And I’m so sorry baby.
“I don’t know what to say. There’s three guys, they’ve hijacked the plane … we’re turned around and I heard that there’s planes that have been flown into the World Trade Center.
“I hope to see your face again, baby. I love you.
“Bye.”
Betty Ong Flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11
Betty Ong was a member of the flight crew on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, the first plane to be hijacked.
She called American Airlines reservations and Nydia Gonzalez, an operations agent, using a seat back Airfone at the back of the plane.
Here are some extracts of the conversation.
Ong: “The cockpit’s not answering. Somebody’s stabbed in business class, and um, I think there is mace that we can’t breathe. I don’t know, I think we’re getting hijacked … my name is Betty Ong. I’m Number 3 on Flight 11.”
AAL: “Can you describe the person, that you said someone is what in business class?”
Ong: “I’m — I’m sitting in the back, somebody’s coming back from business. If you can hold on for one second, they’re coming back. (Inaudible) Anyone know who stabbed who?”
Background: “I don’t know, but Karen and Bobby got stabbed.”
Ong: “Our — our Number 1 got stabbed. Our purser is stabbed. Ah, nobody knows who stabbed who and we can’t even get up to business class right now because nobody can breathe. Our Number 1 is — is stabbed right now. And our Number 5. Our first-class passenger that, first class galley flight attendant and our purser has been stabbed and we can’t get to the cockpit, the door won’t open. Hello? … Can anybody get up to the cockpit? We can’t even get into the cockpit. We don’t know who’s up there.”
AAL: “Well if they were shrewd, they would keep the door closed, and —“
Ong: “I’m sorry?”
AAL: “Would they not maintain a sterile cockpit?”
Ong: “I think the guys are up there. They might have gone there — jammed their way up there, or something. Nobody can call the cockpit. We can’t even get inside.”
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