The Duchess of York was originally reported as having a close shave on Tuesday as she had planned visit to the Twin Towers on the day of the terrorist attack. It now seems that her brush with death was actually much nearer than first realised.
Whereas initial reports placed her in the hotel at the time of the catastrophe, it has since emerged that she and close aide Kate Waddington were actually in a taxi approaching the World Trade Center when the planes ploughed into the side of the buildings.
The car in which they were travelling ground to a halt in the chaos caused by the impact of the first plane just moments before the second jumbo slammed into the 110-storey tower. Fergie is said to be “distraught”. “The Duchess is desperately upset for everyone involved in this terrible tragedy,” said her spokesman. “It is unbelievable – she was just a few minutes away when the explosion happened.”
Fergie was on her way to a meeting in the offices of her US charity Chances for Children. The two men who run the charity, Ken Merlo and Johnny O’Sullivan, would normally have been at their desks on the 101st floor of one of the buildings when the attack occurred, but had left to escort the Duchess to the meeting.
The charity had been given space near the top of the tower by financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald. A call to the firm’s offices made just after the attack was answered with the chilling information, “We’re dying”, against the sound of screams in the background. The line then went silent.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
