Frank De Martini

Frank De Martini was an architect employed by the Port Authority of New York, the agency that managed the World Trade Center.De Martini, and his colleagues Pablo Ortiz, Pete Negron, Carlos da Costa, had their offices on the 88th floor of the first tower to be struck, on September 11, 2001.They had all arrived early and were sharing a coffee with De Martini's wife when an airline hijacked by terrorists struck their building just a few floors above them.

The men helped clear the entrance to one of the buildings three stairwells, and directed their fellow occupants to descend to safety. De Martini assured his wife he would follow her.But the four men then proceeded find and rescue dozen of people. They ascended to the 89th floor, and bashed through the drywall, next to the blocked door, allowing the occupants of that floor to escape.

When the building was hit all the elevators stopped.Passengers in those elevators had to be rescued by workers from the outside, and the four men proceeded to execute those rescues.

It has been estimated that at least 50 people survived the attack due to the rescue efforts of De Martini and his colleagues.When they arrived on the 89th floor De Martini directed Mak Hanna to carry an elderly man, who could not descend 89 floors, down to safety.Hanna was the only one of their crew to survive.

De Martini's story has been featured in multiple documentaries, including 9/11: The Twin Towers and 102 Minutes That Changed America.