That morning, Hugues Beaurain’s concern was to find out the price of tickets to attend a Strokes or Coldplay concert. It is 8:45 am.
With his wife Sofia, he arrived the day before for a happy event, the wedding of a couple of friends. It is to be held the following Saturday, at the Waldorf-Astoria, a New York palace where George Bush and Pervez Musharraf, then President of Pakistan, were located shortly before.
The couple is then Antibois. In “Big Apple”, both were staying at the time with Carin, a friend, who lives in a former sausage factory, on Renwick Street.
A hole surrounded by flames
“Suddenly, Sofia notices that the planes here are flying even lower than in Antibes in bad weather. Two to three seconds later, there was a big explosion.”
Carin thinks of gas. But below, in the street, all eyes are on the south. Carin then looked up and shouted: “Look, the World Trade Center!”.
From the terrace of the accommodation, Hugues, Sofia and Carin distinctly see a huge hole surrounded by flames.
“At least ten floors are blackened, others are glowing more and more, the smoke thickens and we imagine the blaze. We are on Renwick Street, between Houston Street and Canal Street, in an area closed to traffic in the days that followed. “
Sofia, his companion, shouts to him to get the camera, a Canon film reflex. Hugues immortalizes horror, without yet fully measuring it.
“We immediately thought of a private jet and the TV didn’t know much more: ‘Airplane crashes into WTC’, she said.”
Then the second plane appears. “Horror vision from the terrace, had recorded Hugues in his written memories. People start to skip towers (at least 10). They fall like stones, black shadows, unlike the paper and other debris that fly away, towards Brooklyn. We were lucky to have the wind at our back. “
Writing as an outlet
Hugues will then testify in Release. The newspaper will use his words – “Like black shadows” – to caption the terrifying photo of the man falling from a tower, upside down. An image that had been around the world, called “The Falling Man”.
In the evening, it is WTC 7, another building, in flames since the collapse of the twin towers, which will turn to dust before their eyes.
Hugues and Sofia will end up attending the wedding of their friends.
This salesman, now 47 years old, and who now lives in Nice, has already published a few books. He cannot forget that day of terror. Writing was one of the springs that allowed him to take a step back.
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