Cameraman Paul Berriff was knocked unconscious by a “tsunami of concrete and cement”
(Picture: Handout)A camerman who survived 9/11 says being at the foot of the World Trade Center when it collapsed 20 years ago will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Paul Berriff from Leeds was knocked unconscious by a “tsunami of concrete and cement”. Eventually, he crawled to safety bloodied and bruised in complete darkness. His camera captured the full horror as the south tower came crashing to the ground.
Bafta-winner Mr Berriff, 75, told the Standard: “I think about it most days. I was so damn lucky, if I’d run to the left or right, I’d be dead. But because I ran in a straight line, I’m here to tell my story.”
Mr Berriff was with his wife Hilary in Manhattan as he made a documentary for Discovery.
At about 8.50am, the crew were in their office when someone said a plane had hit the World Trade Center.
After making it to the building with his sound recordist Lou Lou Machin by car and then on foot, Mr Berriff started filming.
He remembers: “We were there for 20 minutes when I turned the camera up to the top of the south tower. A tsunami of concrete and cement started peeling off and fell towards me.
“I could hear the other firemen shouting, ‘Run, run, run!’. Lou Lou and I followed them down the street. I couldn’t see what was happening but I could hear a tremendous roar like a dozen 747 jets chasing me down a runway.
“I kept the camera running, with it pointing backwards. I remember a rush of air and then something hitting me like a fly swat. The camera was ripped out of my hand. Everything went black and I hit the ground. I was knocked unconscious for 28 minutes.”
He later found Lou Lou, who had been grabbed by a firefighter and had jumped to safety into an underground garage.
Mr Berriff, who is writing a book Wrong Place, Right Time about his 50 years behind the lens, doesn’t think the world is any safer since the Taliban swept to victory in Afghanistan.
He added: “I’m still expecting a newsflash saying something equally disastrous has happened. We have to be on our toes no matter how much security there is.”
