From the archives | Trapped in Trade Center elevators on Sept. 11, they fought their way out
On the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, USA TODAY is republishing articles published in 2002 for the first anniversary.
USA TODAY identified about 100 people who escaped from inside 29 elevators at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
In most cases, the doors were open at the moment the jets hit or opened automatically without the assistance of passengers.
But in seven elevators, people were trapped behind closed doors and fought their way out. In all, 21 people survived in these elevators.
From the archives | Disaster within disaster: World Trade Center elevators created more tragedy
In the North Tower
► Seven passengers trapped for 45 minutes pried open an elevator stopped in the lobby. They used force to overcome pressure from a motor pushing the doors shut.
► Five passengers trapped in an elevator stuck between floors used a window washer's squeegee to cut through an elevator shaft made of three layers of drywall. They then kicked a hole through a tile wall into a 50th floor bathroom to escape.
► Two Port Authority employees stuck in an elevator on the 71st floor were rescued by colleagues who passed wire cutters through a crack in the elevator doors. One of the trapped men then cut a cable holding the doors shut.
► A man trapped alone in an elevator at the ground floor lobby was suddenly able to slide the doors open five minutes before the building fell. The south tower's earlier collapse had cut power to the motor that had kept the doors closed.
In the South Tower
► Four people survived in two express elevators that stopped 6 to 10 feet above the lobby. In both, men were able to pry open the inside elevator doors and bend a decorative façade above the hallway doors to create a small opening. In one elevator, two women from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods investment bank squeezed through a small crack. Their male colleagues, who had helped them escape, were too big and perished. In the other elevator, a man and a woman squeezed through a similar opening. About 40 people died in the two elevators.
► Two firefighters used a crowbar-like tool to free themselves from an elevator stalled on the 24th floor.
USA TODAY found no cases of elevator rescues by emergency workers. However, firefighters died in the south tower attempting a rescue. And witnesses saw a firefighter using an ax on an elevator in the north tower lobby, but it could not be determined if people were inside.
PHOTO Associated Press
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION Veronica Bravo/USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How 9/11 survivors escaped from World Trade Center elevators
