Henry Li
China

"People consoling each other."
Henry Li standing in front of an American flag. (photo John Aravosis)

When Henry Li arrived at his office on the 86th floor of 2 World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, he had no idea that within an hour he'd be saving a coworker's life. The 52-year-old Hong Kong immigrant remembers that it was a particularly beautiful day as he booted up his computer and went to talk to his supervisor. Suddenly he heard a loud noise just upstairs — a boom like a bomb — and saw a fireball outside the window. Soon thereafter, Rose Riso, a coworker who was also the floor fire marshal, told everybody to get out in case the smoke from the explosion came in to their building. "We were very calm, not in a panic state," Mr. Li remembers. "This had never happened before. This was the next building, it would not affect us so fast," he remembers thinking at the time. No one knew that in 15 minutes the next plane would hit their building as well, effectively trapping anyone remaining. Worse yet, an announcement came on the loudspeakers telling everyone to go back to their desks. "The building is secure," he recalls the announcement saying. "We have information that a plane hit another building. This building is secure. Please go back to your work station and wait for further instructions." Mr. Li didn't think the announcement made any sense, so he took an elevator to the ground floor to see what was going on. "Right before the door closed, a few people came in," he says. "Those were the people who were lucky." No one knew it would be the last elevator to leave the floor before the second plane hit, trapping those remaining. 

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