When Brian Clark made his 9-1-1 call, nearly seven thousand people had already escaped the South Tower, while more than a thousand remained between the lobby and the 76th floor, heading downward if they could. More than six hundred people were on the 77th floor and above. Those numbers didn’t include the emergency responders who flooded into the South Tower after United Flight 175 struck. Time was becoming an enemy, but not everyone understood that. A 9-1-1 caller on the 73rd floor, below the impact zone, told an operator that oxygen was running out, only to be instructed not to leave the
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