Solely 16 folks survived the collapse of the north tower on 9/11.
Amongst them was Port Authority Okay-9 unit officer Dave Lim, who shared his story with PIX11 practically 20 years after the terrorist assault.
Mendacity in mud that day after the towers fell, Lim didn’t instantly perceive his personal destiny.
“The strangest thought got here to my thoughts … ‘useless males don’t cough, so I need to nonetheless be alive,’” Lim mentioned.
Lim started his shift on Sept. 11, 2001, like another, however when the primary aircraft hit he ran to assist.
Whereas directing folks to stairwells, Lim mentioned he encountered a lady named Josephine Harris.
On the time, Harris was exhausted and unable to stroll, so Lim mentioned he stayed together with her.
The north tower then got here down on high of them.
“It was extra like an avalanche or the sound of an on-rushing locomotive. You may really feel the air because the flooring are urgent down on one another,” Lim remembered. “It felt like a hurricane.”
When all of it stopped, 110 tales of the World Commerce Middle have been on high of Lim and Harris. They have been among the many 16 individuals who survived the north tower collapse by being inside a pocket on the fifth flooring of stairwell B, and the one approach out was to go up.
“That’s the place we noticed what was a lightweight, and I assumed it was the sunshine on the sixth flooring. It turned out to be the the solar,” Lim mentioned.
Reflecting after practically twenty years, Lim mentioned folks usually say he have to be blessed or have a higher objective.
“I’ve a tough time accepting that truth. It’s not that i don’t consider in God or that God didn’t save me. It’s simply that I don’t really feel I’m as deserving, or any extra deserving, than these 3,000 those that have been killed,” Lim mentioned.
That day did change Lim’s appreciation for all times, although.
“I’ve realized to understand the little issues in life, like my daughter’s live performance or simply sitting on a bench and having fun with nature, issues I by no means had time for.”
