A message of remembrance 25 years after the 9/11 attacks

Ed Fine was supposed to go to the 87th floor of the World Trade Center in New York City, USA. He took an elevator up to the 79th floor. He was supposed to take another elevator up, but he missed the elevator for a few seconds. That’s how he survived. The incident happened on September 11, 2001, the day the World Trade Center was destroyed in a horrific terrorist attack. Even 25 years later, the memory is still fresh.

The terrorists’ message in a suit and briefcase Fortune magazine published a photo of Ed Fine after he survived the terrorist attacks. In the photo, he is seen walking through the rubble of the Twin Towers with a briefcase in hand, his suit covered in dust. Fine, now 83, recently told the Mirror that he still carefully kept the suit and briefcase he wore on the day of the attacks, and even uses the briefcase.

Explaining the reason for preserving them, Fine said, “It’s to send a message to those who carried out the attack—they will never win.”

As fate would have it, on the morning of September 11, 2001, Ed Fine’s son had a job at the World Trade Center. Since his son was sick, Fine went to the 87th floor himself. He arrived at the building at around 7:45 a.m. and took the elevator to the 79th floor. He ran to catch the next elevator from there, but failed for a few seconds. Shortly after, a Boeing 767 hijacked by terrorists crashed between the 93rd and 99th floors of the building.

Ed Fine lamented, “If I had gotten in that elevator, I wouldn’t be alive to say this today.” Fine’s wife, Ingrid (84), recalled spending the day of the attack in utter uncertainty, with no sign of her husband for hours.

One of the deadliest terrorist attacks in modern history, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon killed 2,996 people, including 19 hijackers and firefighters.