I was in the Marriott World Trade Center hotel and thought I was hallucinating.
There was an explosion next door at the World Trade Center, not a hundred yards from my window on the 17th floor, and I could see the flames.
It looked like a movie set, a giant hole where some floors used to be. I got scared, so instead of continuing to phone headlines to my editor, I told him it was time to go.
My room's windows were cracking. Water was starting to flow in from somewhere. I grabbed my cell phone and tape recorder, pulled on pants and my shirt.
Then, without stopping to put on shoes -- I also left my wallet, keys, computer and luggage -- I ran down the hall, banging on doors to ask people if they needed help getting out.
The hotel's emergency warning system kept telling us to stay in our rooms. Most people weren't paying attention. We were afraid the towers would collapse and kill us. One woman wouldn't budge with her child. She refused to panic but I was losing it, so I said good luck and ran.
In the stairwell, people were running, dragging luggage and screaming. A woman fell, grabbing my shirt and ripping it. My tape recorder and cell phone went flying. I kept running but don't remember going down the 17 flights. After a while, I wasn't aware of any noise on the stairs. People seemed polite in their rush to escape. I don't know how long it took but I finally managed to get down the stairs.
With the others, I went out the door farthest from the trade center. We ran as it continued raining debris. Then another plane crashed into the second tower. For a minute we stood and gawked at the two buildings with holes in them. Flames were shooting out.
People were bloodied, sobbing. High-heeled women's shoes were everywhere.
I bumped into Mark Vitner, an economist with First Union Securities Inc in Charlotte, who was at a conference at the Marriott when the planes crashed.
Vitner said he was taking notes as Robert Scott, president of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co, was speaking on the future of the financial services industry.
There was a loud explosion, Vitner said, but Scott kept talking. "Then the building shook and we knew something was really wrong."
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