FDNY firefighter Joe Torrillo recounts surviving burial beneath the South Tower on 9/11
Joe Torrillo, an FDNY firefighter, survived being trapped under the South Tower’s rubble on September 11, 2001, despite severe injuries.
On September 11, 2001, FDNY firefighter Joe Torrillo was caught in the South Tower’s collapse, sustaining a split skull, broken ribs, arm and a crushed spine as concrete slabs fell on him. He lay buried in darkness, hearing the muffled cries of others fade until silence. After about 25 minutes, rescuers located a pocket in the debris and extracted Torrillo along with three other survivors.
Medics rushed him to a Hudson River boat for transport to a hospital, just as the North Tower began to fall. Torrillo survived both the initial collapse and the subsequent chaos, remaining listed as missing for three days before being confirmed alive.
