9/11 anniversary: Doctor saw shocking attack from plane

Sam Allen could see the World Trade Center burning from his plane

A doctor has spoken about witnessing the 9/11 attacks from a plane that was refuelling at a New York airport.

Sam Allen, who lived in Matlock, Derbyshire at the time, was at JFK Airport when he witnessed the second aircraft strike the World Trade Center.

As a medical professional, he was also part of the emergency response.

"We were expecting to see thousands of patients with shrapnel, glass and eye injuries but the shocking thing was, there were no survivors," he said.

'A flash'

Dr Allen was returning to the UK from a trip to South America when he became aware of something terrible happening.

He said: "We had a good view across central New York and we could see smoke across the skyline.

"It was a beautiful, clear morning and we could see the Twin Towers and that's where the smoke seemed to be coming from.

"Then there was a flash as the second plane hit."

Dr Allen responded to a call for help from the Red Cross

After being taken off the aircraft, the passengers watched the towers collapse on TVs in the terminal.

Dr Allen then responded to a Red Cross appeal for medical professionals to help at the scene.

'Horrors of war'

Dr Allen, who now lives in West Kilbride, Scotland, said: "It was surreal arriving there. The cloud was pulverised concrete and other things, pulverised from the collapse.

"If you imagine what it is like when it has been snowing and everything is muffled, the sounds are muffled, that's what it was like; it was eerie.

"As you approached Ground Zero, under your foot was one to two inches of fine dust, similar to what you see on the Moon.

"There were pieces of paper, which had been blown out from various offices and they contained typed sheets, memos - some even marked 'important' - so that was surreal."

A thick dust coated Manhattan after the towers collapsed

Dr Allen was working alongside a US doctor, who he said was "in shock".

"He said: 'I'm so glad you've arrived; I've never had to deal with anything like this'.

"It was the same with the fire crews. The look on the faces of the crews coming back, they were speechless, as if they had seen the worst horrors of war," he said.

Dr Allen is now an infectious diseases specialist in Scotland

Dr Allen found he was limited in the help he could offer.

"We were expecting to see thousands of patients with shrapnel, glass and eye injuries but the shocking thing was, there were no survivors," he said.

"What we saw were the firemen and the paramedics coming back in a state of shock; some of them were collapsing."

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He was finally allowed to fly out 10 days later.

"I think about it every day and how much the world has changed in 20 years," he added.