Speaker Report – Hans Kunnen – 21st August 2025 – by Grahame Reinthal
Our speaker on 21st August was Hans Kunnen, who was staying at the Marriot Hotel in Manhattan, New York, to attend an economic conference in September 2001. Fatefully, this hotel and conference centre was situated next to and between the two World Trade Centre Twin Towers.
On the morning of 11th September, Hans was in a conference session when the whole building shook like there was an earthquake happening. Some of you may have experienced th
is as I have first-hand both in San Francisco and in Tokyo. It is seriously unsettling but when it stops you hope for the best.
However, things evolved quickly as fire alarms then sounded and everyone retreated to the Marriot’s foyer. There was confusion but no panic at that stage until a woman ran into the foyer from the street, screaming, as she was on fire! It turned out that she had been doused in flaming aviation fuel cascading into the streets below the first Tower. A man known as ‘The man in the yellow tie’ helped to extinguish the flames, but tragically and
ironically, his sister and nephew were passengers in the second plane that hit the second tower, more or less at that same moment!
And so it went that the next building was struck, and smoke and dust and papers and chunks of building and people cascaded out of the buildings into the streets below. Hans described how he saw a woman blown out
the side of a Tower, spinning in the air to her death.
There was so much confusion, but then people said to get away as quickly and as far as possible, suggesting going to the river. But not being a New Yorker, where was the river? Following others, Hans made it to the Stanton Island Ferry Terminal along with thousands of others, and as the ferry departed, the massive cloud of smoke and
dust engulfed them, and they could barely breathe. As the ferry broke out of that cloud, they looked back on the massive cloud engulfing the city.
Hans found himself alone in the middle of this extraordinary world-changing event. But on this ferry, he met a young woman, who, realising that he was alone, and in shock, and had lost all his possessions in the escape, kindly invited him to come with her and stay with her
family, which he accepted gratefully. She and her family provided shelter and clothes for him at that time, and to this day Hans is still friends with them.
Overall, Hans’ presentation was most graphic, with descriptions of confusion, shock, fear and horror at that time. He shared
many verbal images of people on fire; of people falling from the buildings to their deaths; of the fire crews, ambulance teams and police who moved into the buildings to do their jobs,
unaware that they would never return to their families, and more.
After surviving the attacks, Hans has felt a strong desire to give back to the community, and has become a significant blood donor, having donated more than 100 times over the years since 2001, and is also involved in mentoring refugees.
He shared his extraordinary story with us, not so much to dwell on the horror of it all, but rather to highlight the acts of kindness and the importance of helping others in the
aftermath of tragedy. However, it was poignant to me that even now, 24 years later, he has not recovered from the trauma and is still emotionally challenged when talking about those horrific events.