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American Morning

Italian Journalist Describes Return to Ground Zero

Aired March 11, 2002 - 08:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Even today, there are images of ground zero on September 11th that Americans have not seen yet. Italian journalist Alberto Bauto (ph) lives near ground zero. He was so shaken by what he recorded there, that he left New York and returned home to Italy for several months. Now he is back, and for the first time, in a CNN exclusive, he shares what he saw at ground zero six months ago today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That morning I was having coffee in my office when I heard the first explosion. I opened the door to my terrace and what I saw was the North Tower in flames, with a dark cloud of smoke. I, instinctively, I grabbed my camera and my press ID and I rushed on the site.

There was somebody who was crying, somebody was just astonished, but all were confused like me. The scene I saw as I got to the place was kind of a moon landscape. Debris, silence, shoes, papers, historical memories of hundreds of preparation that were falling down. So I see this unbelievable image of the two towers in flames. Pictures that you used to see only in the surrealist movies, maybe. And so I was without words. And all around me there was silence that was almost unbearable silence.

I think this was a tragedy of biblical proportions. So I started to get closer and closer, and at that point, I saw the first emergency crews come in. And there was this group -- maybe six or seven firefighters -- who were getting ready, and I remember that I met the eyes of one of these firemen who were getting ready. And that was just a second, but for me was a very long time. In that moment, I think we were communicating our feelings, our emotion, our deep concern for what was happening.

Then a few moments later, they just disappeared in the tower. I don't know what was their destiny. In that moment, I really felt how brave, how strong, were those people. I got impressed from especially one of the police officers. I saw him back and forth for so many times I lost the count. And each time he was coming out with a different person, trying to save the lives of these people. But I was shooting, I was already concentrating trying to cover the human side of the story.

As I was at the entrance of the towers, there were people evacuating -- hundreds, hundreds of people. And I remember perfectly this image, people leaving. And this woman was scared. She turns her head back and looks at the towers. When you see the face of this lady, you understand what means terror, horror.

So I look to the tower and there is people jumping. I didn't want to feel, to tell you truth, in the beginning. It was so horrible. But then, I said, I have to do it. I have to document. So I shoot it. That was a moment I was so strongly hurt that I -- I started to cry. This was a moment that helped us to understand what really was happening. In some ways, the end of the myth of the invulnerability of America.

A few minutes before the collapsing of the tower -- the first tower, the battery of my recorder was dying. So I decide to go back to my office, I started to run and I was able to reach my place. I was still alive and that battery saved my life. And then from my window, I see this enormous cloud. A few minutes later, it was all dark. The cloud was so enormous it covered everything.

And in the moment that everything was black around me and I couldn't see anything, it seemed to me like a hallucination, a psychotic break. And I thought maybe this is the end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Something that most of us living here will never forget.

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