In a moment that’s now frozen in time, Marcy Borders, known as the “Dust Lady,” is seen in a chilling image after barely escaping the carnage of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Surviving the unconscionable horrors of the day that’s forever seared in all our hearts and minds, Borders escaped from her 81st-floor office in the North Tower just moments before the World Trade Center collapsed.
Paralyzed with shock, the woman–covered from head to toe in ash and toxic debris–was captured in a photo that became a haunting reminder of the 9/11 tragedy.
Though the woman fled the towers, she was unable to escape the terror and then the cancer, that took her life. Years later, her daughter said that “the dust has settled.”
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks destroyed New York City’s Twin Towers, the world was completely shaken by the heartbreaking stories and photos that were shared.
Among them was the iconic image, the “Dust Lady,” a then 28-year-old Bank of America employee, Marcy Borders, whose expression demonstrates the horrific human impact of the attacks.
Borders had just started working with the company as a legal assistant and arrived early that day to get a head start.
It was at 8:46 a.m. when Borders, of New Jersey, and her colleagues on the 81st floor felt the rumble of the building.
At the time, they were all unaware that an airplane, hijacked by al Qaeda, intentionally struck the North Tower between the 93rd and 99th floors, just 12 stories above where Borders was sitting.
Minutes later, a second plane slammed the South Tower and both 110-storey skyscrapers collapsed.
