The story of Ron DiFrancesco, the ‘last survivor’ of 9/11 who descended 84 floors guided by a voice: “Nobody understood what was happening”

On September 11, 2001, the world stood still. Four attacks carried out by the terrorist group Al Qaeda against targets in the United States – the Capitol, the Pentagon and the Twin Towers – killed 2,996 people and left nearly 25,000 injured. The plane headed for the Capitol ultimately crashed into a field near Shanksville after passengers attempted to regain control of the aircraft.

This Friday marks the 25th anniversary of the events, which rank among the deadliest terrorist attacks in history. Many died, but thousands of people – an estimated 14,000 – survived the impacts on the North and South Towers. Among them was Ron DiFrancesco, the last survivor to escape from the World Trade Center.

The Canadian broker, who worked on the 84th floor of the South Tower – the building struck by the second plane – still shudders whenever he sees footage of the attacks. During an interview with Cuarto Milenio several years ago, DiFrancesco recalled going to work that day just as he would on any other.

“Nobody understood what was happening. We saw a huge explosion in the other tower and watched smoke and papers pouring out of it. When I looked out, I saw people at the windows who didn’t know what to do. People were faced with the choice of jumping or being burned alive.” It is a harrowing account of what happened 25 years ago.

The call that made him leave

At that point, he says, they were told there had been an accident in Tower 1, the North Tower, but that Tower 2, the South Tower, was safe. “We didn’t see the plane or anything. We only saw the hole in the building. I didn’t know what was happening, not even when I woke up in the hospital.” After the initial confusion, when nobody knew what was going on, he returned to his desk and received a phone call. It may have saved his life.

A college friend who was watching events unfold on television screamed at him to get out as quickly as possible. “I grabbed a colleague and said, ‘Let’s get out of here.’” Soon afterward came the second impact, this time in his building. “I didn’t see anything, but the ceiling panels started falling. I didn’t know it was a plane. I thought perhaps a generator had collapsed.”

As well as the memories of that tragic moment, he bears physical scars on his face from the injuries he suffered. But he survived. He made his way down the stairs because the elevators had been shut down, although it was far from easy. “The smoke was too thick. We crouched down to try to stay beneath it. People were passing out,” he recalls.

The voice that guided him

As he searched for a way out and felt himself close to losing consciousness, he says he heard a voice telling him to get up and follow the route it was showing him. “That’s what I did. I slid down through all these floors that were on fire.” Close to the flames, he picked up a piece of drywall to help him find a path toward the exit, guided by “a clear, calm voice telling me where I had to go.”

“I believe it was a higher being – some people might call it God, an angel or an inner voice – but I’m certain it was a voice coming from inside the building,” DiFrancesco said. That voice, together with his determination to see his wife and children again, helped him find the way out. “It guided me to a safe place, and then it left me.”

After passing through three floors engulfed in flames, he admits he still does not know how he avoided being burned. Then, suddenly, everything changed. He began to feel coolness and moisture as the fire sprinklers started working. That was how he escaped the burning giant. “When I reached ground level, near the entrance, I wanted to run out of there, but they wouldn’t let us.”

When he emerged into the plaza between the towers, he found “a vision of hell on Earth,” as he described it in a National Geographic documentary. “I met a colleague there and we started walking toward the exit, but the building began to collapse. I turned to my right and saw a huge fireball coming toward us. That’s the last thing I remember. I woke up three days later in the hospital.”

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