Pablo Ortiz

Pablo Ortiz (January 25, 1952 – September 11, 2001) was an American construction superintendent, and former Navy SEAL. He worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the organization that managed the World Trade Center, and is credited with playing a central role in rescuing at least 77 people who were trapped in the building’s elevators during the September 11 attacks. Survivors describe last seeing him ascending a stairwell to go open more elevators with his friend and colleague Francis “Frank” De Martini.

On September 11, 2001, Ortiz and De Martini were working on the 88th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, situated a mere five floors below the impact zone of American Airlines Flight 11, which struck between the 93rd and 99th floors.

They were having breakfast with co-workers and De Martini’s wife, Nicole, when Flight 11 crashed above them. The impact injured some occupants on their floor, including Elaine Duch. Doors were jammed shut when the door frames were twisted. Ortiz, De Martini and their colleagues, Pete Negron, Carlos da Costa, and Mak Hanna determined that only one stairwell could be made accessible, after clearing some debris. After sending the occupants of their floor down that stairwell to safety. They saved 25 - 40 employees, which included Nicole De Martini, Elaine Duch, Joanne Ciccolello, Dorene Smith, Moe Lipson, Anita Serpe, Lila Speciner, Jeffrey Gertler, Abdul Elgendy, Patricia Cullen, Gerry Gaeta, Jim Connors, Frank Varriano, and Judith Reese.

They set about rescuing their fellow occupants on the next floor up. There were two different groups saved by the five men. The first group, consisting of Rick Bryan, Dianne DeFontes, Carmella Fischelli, Akane Ito, Raffaele Cava, Nathan Goldwasser, Trisa Moya, Ronald Scott, Robert Sibarium, Harold Martin, Walter Pilipiak, Kelly Baldillo, and Yoshi Movi, were near the stairwell. Mak Hanna was ordered to carry an elderly man down the stairs, which he did. The remaining four men freed the second group, which had Sabrina Tirao, Frances Ledesma, Thomas Haddad, Lynn Simpson, and Evan Frosch.

The four men then went up to the 90th floor, and freed more workers, which included Richard Eichen, Christopher Egan, and Lucy Gonzalez. They then went to floor 91, and freed 18 people, which included Anthony Vangeli and Michael McQuadeRealizing that they couldn’t ascend any further, they went down, freeing a further six people from the 86th floor, including Louis Lesce. They then made it to the skylobby, where they freed Anthony Savas, who was stuck in an elevator.

Ortiz, De Martini, da Costa and Negron all died, still trying to save fellow occupants, when the building collapsed at 10:28 A.M. Also among the dead were Judith Reese and Anthony Savas.

In August 2003 authorities released many transcripts from 911 telephone calls, and from the radios of first responders. Jim Dwyer’s summary of those transcripts described, in detail, the heroic acts of Ortiz, De Martini and their colleagues. Dwyer eventually wrote a book about the collapse, 102 Minutes, where he wrote they “pushed back the boundary line between life and death in favor of the living”.

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