Stanley Praimnath

Stanley Praimnath is a survivor of the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. Praimnath worked as an executive for Fuji Bank on the 81st floor of the South Tower, the second to be attacked. He was one of eighteen survivors from the South Tower above the impact point of the plane crash.

Events
Praimnath started to evacuate from the South Tower when the North Tower was struck. He returned to his office when the building security told tenants it was safe to do so. Praimnath describes returning to his office, on the 81st floor, just in time to see the second airliner heading right toward his window. He describes a burning wing of the plane ending up "in my office door twenty feet from where I am huddled under my desk." He has stated that the last thing he said before the aircraft struck was, "Lord, I can't do this. You take over."

Praimnath was buried in debris, but when he heard Brian Clark and some colleagues descending the only stairwell that was open, he attracted Clark's attention. Praimnath and Clark were two of only eighteen survivors from a floor above where the plane struck. Clark attributes his own survival to going to help Praimnath, as his group had been debating whether to ascend to the roof and wait for rescue by helicopter, or try to descend through lower floors, which they were told were impassable. By the time Clark got Praimnath free, the group was gone, having decided to try for the roof; they were caught in the collapse. Clark and Praimnath went down instead.

Dramatization
Praimnath and other stories were told on the BBC docudrama 9/11: The Twin Towers (a.k.a. Inside the Twin Towers). His story was also chronicled on the 2006 documentary United by 9/11.