The actual escape. Sophia Cannon was 18, pregnant, and on the 82nd floor of the South Tower when American Airlines Flight 11 hit, and the floor collapsed beneath her.
Her boss Patrice pulled her out of shock and lined everyone up for the stairs, then went back to make sure the rest of the floor was clear. Patrice never made it out.
Sophia kept moving. She felt the wall crack, then the floor give way. She found an undamaged stairway, Stairway A, one of only three stairwells on that floor and the only one still standing.
Years later, her husband researched what happened on those floors and told her something she never knew: only 15 or 16 people survived from where she was standing.
Watch the full 55-minute interview: https://youtu.be/ZALQEk-DF6Q
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*Timestamps:
0:00 Patrice gets her into the evacuation line
0:38 Condolences to the families and first responders
1:04 She had no idea the world was changing outside
1:25 The stranger who told her about the 1993 bombing
2:32 18, pregnant, and walking down the stairs
3:19 The moment the plane hits, the wall starts to crack
4:15 The floor gives way beneath her
5:22 "I'm not gonna die"
6:45 Finding the undamaged stairway
8:23 The 12 machines that saved Stairway A
9:54 Her husband does the math, years later
11:44 Decompressing from trauma you carry for others