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American Morning
Interview With Usman Farman
Aired September 02, 2002 - 07:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Almost a year now since the attacks of 9/11, Usman Farman is still looking for the man who saved his life that day.
Farman, a Pakistani Muslim, was running from the clouds of smoke and debris when he fell, could not get up. That's when a man, a Hasidic Jew, helped bring him to safety. He has never seen or talked to that man since.
Usman Farman, one of the many faces this week at ground zero that we'll be meeting here on AMERICAN MORNING, he is with us this morning here.
Good morning to you.
USMAN FARMAN, 9/11 SURVIVOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: You worked in Seven World Trade that day.
FARMAN: Yes.
HEMMER: You showed up to work right around the time of the first impact, about 8:45. You go up to your office, no one is around. What do you do?
FARMAN: Oh, I was sort of thinking to myself that -- I had only been working there a small time, so maybe there is some meeting, something going on, you know, that I wasn't invited to. I wasn't important enough on the food chain, so I figured, all right -- you know, whatever.
I get to my desk and my phone is ringing, and you know, it's early in the morning, my phone is never ringing that early. And you know, while I was walking through -- we were on the 27th floor -- and there is a huge hole in the building, you know, in World Trade One, which flanked our view.
HEMMER: And you look at that, and you see it, and your reaction was what?
FARMAN: I saw it in my -- it was like looking at something out of a movie. It didn't register at all. And my phone is ringing. I pick up the phone, and my mom is, you know, on the phone. She is all frantic, you know. You know, are you OK? Is everything all right? Call your sister, and everything.
I got off the phone with her. I apparently called my sister. I have no memory of it. Yes. And...
HEMMER: Fast forward a little bit here. You're trying to get away from the building.
FARMAN: Right.
HEMMER: You get caught up in the collapse, the dust.
FARMAN: Well...
HEMMER: You are running, you are walking. You are doing what? And then you fall.
FARMAN: We get evacuated to the north side of the building. And they -- you know, security tells us just go north, keep on going north, keep on going north. You know, and everyone is just standing in shock. You saw a lot of horrible things, bodies and stuff, falling out of the building. And it was -- you were just sort of stuck watching it, although you didn't want to.
And the next thing before I knew, you know, the building collapses, and I'm like, you know, just around some corner, I guess, and there's a building here, and you just see the top disappear completely. There's nothing but smoke. I just started running. And it was literally like those shots that they show all of the time where, you know, there is smoke coming out of every corner, and you know, it was just run towards, like, sunlight or sky.
HEMMER: Did you hit the ground?
FARMAN: Yes. I had all of my stuff on me, and I just sort of -- I just tripped over myself.
HEMMER: Yes.
FARMAN: And...
HEMMER: Tell me about the man who helped you up.
FARMAN: Well, I was lying on my back, and I'm looking at this thing coming at me, and you know, I'm pretty much frozen. I'm thinking to myself, well, you know, this is it. And out of the blue, this Hasidic Jewish guy comes up -- and you know, the last person I would ever expect to, you know, help me out. I mean, honestly, the last person. Anyway...
HEMMER: Why?
FARMAN: Just because. I guess...
HEMMER: You're Pakistani and Muslim.
FARMAN: A Muslim, and you know, and just total extremes, you know. And this guy just sort of just reached down, grabbed me, and he was like, you know, "Let's get out of here."
HEMMER: What did you say to him?
FARMAN: I don't remember. And all I remember is he lifted me up, and we just ran. I lost him in the crowd. And after that, I mean, I had walked three hours to midtown, but my memory of it is like 20 minutes.
HEMMER: How did that change you, not necessarily the events of that day, but that man helping you in a situation where you saw extremes that you never could see before in your own mind?
FARMAN: Well, I guess the point is that, you know, at the end of the day, especially with all of this stuff, you know, talk of invading Iraq and all of that, it's kind of useless at the end. You know, you really learn to cherish your relationships with people and that differences -- political, sociological, religious, especially -- is you're all people at the end of the day.
HEMMER: Quickly, this September 11, what are you doing to do?
FARMAN: I'm not going to do anything.
HEMMER: Stay home, not work?
FARMAN: I'm going to stay at home. Since then, I mean, I haven't been able to find work. So I started a company myself just to try to make ends meet.
But I basically want to stick my head in the sand. I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to hear about, you know, anything else, because you still get this, you know, butterflies in your stomach and everything.
HEMMER: Great to see you.
FARMAN: Thanks a lot.
HEMMER: One year later, Usman Farman -- thanks for telling us your story.
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