Sarit Shefak, knitted news11.09.22 15:41 Tuesday in Elol Tishfav
Henry Favarta at the monument erected in memory of the fallen (photo: courtesy of Henry Favarta)
“There was chaos, everyone was shouting Omigad, oh my God, suddenly I noticed the collapse of the south building” describes Henry Pavarta, a survivor of the Twin Disasters, in a conversation with Serogs on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the attack that shocked America and claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people in a series of attacks by an organization Al Qaeda terror on America.
“I worked for an international company in the insurance field in New York, they moved to the twin buildings two years before the attack happened,” said Favarta, who used to arrive at work every day at precisely 8:00. That day, because of the pardons and regional elections, he arrived late – and was saved.
“I ordered an elevator, I saw my former manager before and I wished him good morning”, Fuerte did not know that this would be the last time he would see his manager. “I took the elevator to the 78th floor, which is a transition floor, the door opened, the time was 8:48 and then there was a huge explosion. Following the impact, I flew out of the elevator back to the 78th floor.”
“Seventeen minutes later, there was the explosion in the south building as well, I was on my back, and I had a personal feeling that it was a terrorist incident. I tried to rescue three guys from the elevator nearby and we didn’t succeed, the elevator closed on our fingers. I don’t know what happened to them.”
Favarta (on the left, in the blue shirt) with friends at work (photo: courtesy of Henry Favarta)
Business as usual
“I turned to one of the offices on the same floor to ask where there was an emergency exit, they said they had to go back to work. They told me to get out of here and that they had to go back to work,” he describes the moments of confusion, in which not everyone understood the magnitude of the disaster. “I finally found an emergency exit.”
Henry quickly went down the stairs to the 50th floor, where a rush of people had gathered. When he reached the 35th floor, he saw the rescue teams coming up, and the people going down the stairs made room for them and continued down. When he got out, he got to Broadway, tried to call to say everything was fine, but the cell phone network wasn’t working. “I saw someone next to me yelling Omeigad Omeigad, as if someone stabbed her to death” he describes the panic in the street, “There was chaos and everyone was shouting Omeigad, oh my God”, in those moments, he noticed the collapse of the south building.
The name of his direct manager, the late Tom Segroy, on the disaster memorial (photo: Henry Pavarta)
“My mother saw everything and thought I was gone”
He ran as fast as he had ever run in his life toward the Brooklyn Bridge. At the same time, during this time Favarta’s mother, who was teaching near the towers, saw the building where Kors worked – and was sure that she had lost her son forever. When he reached the bridge, he ran into a person who to this day he was unable to contact and could not get his details, and this helped him to contact a friend: “He was able to call, so I asked him to call my friend who came to pick up my mother, who was teaching nearby. She saw everything and thought I had gone forever”. He says that he debated whether to cross the bridge for fear of another terrorist incident, but finally decided to cross.
It took more than two months to find the body of the manager, whom he saw just moments before the disaster. His body was found under one of the collapsed columns.
Favarta describes the moments of the disaster as if they happened only last night, but it is important for him to say: “I thank the Creator of the world for salvation from hell.”
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