# How Many at WTC at the time of attack? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033 "2003-07-26T05:14:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/21 "2003-07-27T02:28:52Z")
9/11/01 was definitely not a Jewish holiday. I was at work that day, thisclose to the towers. Rosh HaShannah was a week later, on 9/18. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/22 "2003-07-27T02:55:39Z")
Dead at WTC: 2,893 (as of Jan. 2002) Dead at Pentagon: 184 Dead in Pennsylvania: 40 Dead hijackers: 19 (not included above) Four people at or above the crash zones in the WTC Towers survived. [USA Today](http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2001/12/19/usatcov-wtcsurvival.htm) estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people were in each tower when the attack began. Earlier estimates ranged from 10,000 to 25,000 per tower. But company head counts showed many desks were empty at 8:46 a.m. There were few tourists; the observation deck wasn’t scheduled to open until 9:30 a.m. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/23 "2003-07-27T03:01:24Z")
I should have given a more up-to-date figure for the WTC. Dead at WTC: 2,795 (as of Nov. 2002) ---
**Author:** ![ooga\_booga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b77776/32.png) [@ooga\_booga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ooga_booga)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/24 "2003-07-27T06:13:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*For the sake of estimation we’ll assume that the mortality rate above the points of impact was 100% and that most of the victims were from there. Each tower had 110 floors, and the north tower was struck around the 92nd floor. The south tower was struck around the 80th floor. \*\* One point you’re overlooking is that the south tower wasn’t struck until seventeen minutes after the north tower, and a fair number of people above the 80th floor had already evacuated to lower floors in the intervening time. I’m too tired to look for a cite, though I’ve read this in numerous articles (as an slight hijack though, I did come across [this](http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/dayof911.html) remarkably detailed and cite-laden timeline of 9/11 in my googling.) ---
**Author:** ![ooga\_booga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b77776/32.png) [@ooga\_booga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ooga_booga)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/25 "2003-07-27T06:26:47Z")
Despite my grammar train-wreck at the end there, I did find this cite buried in the aforementioned timeline: > [@](#): > > The death toll could have been much worse - an estimated 15,000 people made it out of the WTC to safety. [[St. Petersburg Times, 9/8/02]](http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/08/911/911__45_Questions.shtml) The page that it links to, however, is a bit less than satisfying in explaining how they came up with that estimate. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/26 "2003-07-27T23:11:57Z")
343 New York City firefighters died that day. May they rest in peace. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/27 "2003-07-28T04:15:25Z")
**Walloon** wrote > [@](#): > > Four people at or above the crash zones in the WTC Towers survived. Are you sure? I understood noone at or above the crash zones survived. How did they get past it? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/28 "2003-07-28T04:35:10Z")
Flight 175 destroyed only two of the three stairwells in the South Tower. Stairwell A, the stairwell farthest from the crash, remained unobstructed from the top floor to the bottom. It was through that stairwell that four people at or above the crash site were able to escape. Many more could have escaped, but believing the stairway below to be obstructed, they went upward toward the roof, which was locked, and waited in vain to be rescued there. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/29 "2003-07-28T04:53:11Z")
More specifically, over 470 people above the floors of impact (78-84) in the South Tower could have safely taken Stairwell A downward. That is particularly sad to contemplate. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/30 "2003-07-28T05:11:14Z")
[Interviews](http://edition.cnn.com/2002/US/09/09/ar911.last.ones.out/) with two of the four people who escaped from above the crash site in the South Tower. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/31 "2003-07-28T18:56:26Z")
It was not a Jewish holiday, but, as it was in the week prior to Rosh Hashanah, “Selichot” services were said before the morning prayers, which may have caused a good number of Jews to head for work later than usual in the morning. Not much later…mayber 15-30 minutes…but at that time of the morning, it certainly is a significant 15-30 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033/32 "2003-07-28T19:14:08Z")
Although I’d say that would only apply to a very small fraction of the employees. Either way - and I’m not trying to say **cmkeller** implies this - it surely doesn’t justify the idea that Jews were warned in advance or didn’t show up in great numbers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-at-wtc-at-the-time-of-attack/191033.md?page=1)