9/11 WTC survivor speaks in Morehead

By Vanessa Overholser - Staff Writer

A World Trade Center (WTC) attack survivor came to Button Auditorium Tuesday evening to speak about his experience of escape from death.

John Sujo said Sept. 11, 2001 was a day he would never forget.

“I worked on the 81st floor of the North Tower or Tower 1 of the World Trade Center and my wife Mary worked on the 71st floor of the South Tower or Tower 2,” Sujo said. “It was just an incredible experience working in this incredible building, especially for an immigrant who had just arrived in America in February of that year. We enjoyed so much working together in the same complex.”

Sujo said it was a clear day when he went to work that morning. His morning commute was normal. He distinctly remembered how beautiful the Twin Towers looked as the New Jersey Transit Bus rolled out of the Lincoln Tunnel. He went to his office like normal but he had a feeling he could not shake off.

“I sat on my chair, I started reflecting on God's goodness on our lives. He had blessed us with good jobs and we were expecting our first child,” Sujo said. “Everything seemed to be going well. However, I began to feel a deep sense of emptiness in my life.”

Sujo is a Christian and he knew that there was a call upon his life. It was at that moment that he knew he was not doing anything about it.

“I decided to write an email to a friend at my church telling him how I felt and how I was looking for purpose in life,” he said. “I let go of that email at 8:05 a.m. from my office. Little did I know how the next few moments would change us forever.”

Moments later, he said he finished faxing some documents and was walking back to his desk when American Flight 111 struck his building.

“Soon debris from the plane flew into our office and everything started going up in flames. All of us tried our best to stay calm but fear descended on all of us as we had no idea what was going on or if we had a way out of this building,” he said. “We could see a huge crater below and above us. It was a picture of twisted steel all around us with smoke and fire spreading fast.”

When he and a group of co-workers were making their escape from the building Sujo had one other concern on his mind besides survival.

“My heart was sinking. I wondered if the plane had also hit the South Tower where my pregnant wife worked. We fought our way through the fire and made our way to the stairwell,” he said. “As we were coming down the flights of stairs I am trying to reach my wife through my cell phone.”

The phone lines were jammed and he could not get through on his phone. In a panic, Sujo made his way to the 53rd floor to use a landline phone. Again, he could not get through to his wife.

“As we continued our descent down we now see hundreds of firemen and policemen pass us as they were making their way up,” he said. “When we saw them there was this hope that there was a way out of this burning building. We had no idea that these brave men were walking up to their death.”

Sujo said after they reached the lowest level of the tower, the scene was unbelievable. At the lowest level was the plaza that was always full of life. The setting in the plaza was then dark and dismal and lifeless.

“It was a picture of death and complete destruction,” he said. “There was fuselage from the plane that had crashed, burning materials, shattered glass and bodies were all over the courtyard. It was a war zone.”

He saw people being led to different exits of the building. Still his wife was on his mind. The thought occurred to him that his wife might be at the bottom of the South Tower. So he decided to walk toward that direction.

“As I reached close to this building, there was a huge explosion and the ground around me was shaking,” Sujo said. “This was the South Tower finally collapsing. All 110 stories of the second tower of the World Trade Center collapsed around us as I was standing near the foot of the building. Huge boulders and steel and mortar were tumbling down around us.”

Sujo and a group of people who were around him began to huddle together. They all prayed a prayer for strength and safety. It wasn’t long after that when more debris fell and struck the same group of people he just prayed with. He was amazed that he hadn’t gotten struck with a piece of debris.

“It is one of these times that we pray funny prayers, like I prayed, God, please let something soft hit me,” he said. “I found myself in three feet of white soot. I got to my feet and was surrounded by silence. I could see dead bodies all around me.”

As he continued to search for safety, he made a divine discovery.

“God directed me to a man on the ground who had a flashlight on him. I told him that only Jesus could save us and that we had to live.”

Sujo said when the man arose from the ground he could see that he was wearing an FBI jacket. As the man spoke he found out how he got there to the towers and why he was there.

“He said he heard about the attacks on the radio. He went back to his office and got all of his gear and came to the towers,” Sujo said. “We held hands and started walking through the rubble. It was like a blizzard, one caused by all the concrete and ash that was stirred up in the atmosphere.”

Sujo said he was led to a flashing light. The two men walked toward the flashing light and found out the light was coming from a badly damaged ambulance.

“But still God kept the flashing light on top of the ambulance working to show me the way,” Sujo said. “From that point, it was relatively easy for us to make our way out.”

Still Sujo was concerned about his wife, her safety and her whereabouts. After walking for an hour and seeing people scatter about frantically, his cell phone rang.

“I thought it might be someone else using her phone to call me and tell me that my wife was dead,” he said. “It was my wife, telling me that she was alive. When she heard my voice, she realized that I too had made it through. She had not made it to work, since her train had reached the World Trade Center subway stop five minutes after the first crash and so it had not made it into the buildings.”

He said when they got home they called their family in India to let them know that they were OK. That night the couple knelt by their bedside and thanked God for protecting them and they prayed for the families of those whose lives were lost that day.

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