I worked on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center on 9/11. All my colleagues died… but a simple mistake saved my life

David Kravette would have died alongside every colleague working on his floor at the World Trade Center had it not been for one simple mistake.

The Cantor Fitzgerald bond trader arrived at work around 7am on September 11, 2001, and took the elevators to his office on the 105th floor of the North Tower.

He rarely went downstairs during the trading day, but that morning a client’s IT team arrived late for an 8am meeting, and one member had no identification. Someone from Cantor had to descend more than 100 floors to vouch for him.

Kravette volunteered instead of sending his assistant, who was two weeks away from maternity leave. He reached the lobby and had taken only 15 or 20 steps when American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the skyscraper at 8.46am.

Kravette said burning jet fuel tore through the lobby, killing people nearby. He believed he was about to die as intense heat swept across his face, but the flames stopped just short of reaching him, leaving devastation behind.

‘If I was upstairs, or if they came up, we would all have died together,’ Kravette told the Daily Mail ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. ‘I won the lottery with my life, I guess.’

His relief remains inseparable from the loss of those who had been sitting just feet from him that morning.

‘We sit five feet from each other all day long, we talk, we know each other’s lives. It’s like losing family members,’ he said. ‘It’s just… it’s tragic. It’s like losing friends and family… But life goes on, and you have to, you know.’

David Kravette told the Daily Mail that a stranger forgetting their wallet on September 11, 2001, saved his life. Above are Kravette and his son, just two days before the terrorist attacks

Kravette has also shared his story in The History Channel documentary 102 Minutes Inside the Towers, premiering on Friday at 8pm ET.

Cantor Fitzgerald occupied floors 101 through 105, directly above where American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower between the 93rd and 99th floors. 

None of the company’s employees who were in its offices escaped.

The financial services firm lost 658 of its 960 New York employees that morning, along with 50 contractors and visitors. This death toll became the largest suffered by any single employer in the attacks.

Kravette survived because the visitors first went to the wrong tower, waited in line, crossed to the North Tower and were stopped when their colleague could not produce a wallet.

Moments earlier, Kravette had been more than 1,300 feet above Lower Manhattan. He said traveling between Cantor’s offices and the lobby required two elevator rides and normally took five to eight minutes.

Workers rarely needed to leave because the tower had ATMs, cafeterias and even smoking rooms. Cantor also employed ‘Bluecoats’ who ran errands so its brokers could remain at their desks.

‘I can’t remember the last time I went downstairs, especially at a quarter of nine,’ Kravette said. ‘It’s just one in a million in my survival story. To this day, it still gives me chills in my back.’

Cantor Fitzgerald occupied floors 101 through 105, directly above where American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower between the 93rd and 99th floors

As Kravette approached the visitors’ area, a horrific screeching sound tore through the elevator shaft. 

 ‘Jet fuel just exploded in the lobby… It just exploded with fuel, and people were incinerated,’ Kravette explained. 

‘I thought I was dead, and the fireball just didn’t reach me. I felt like a wave of heat on my face, and then the fireball just sucked back in on itself. 

'There was no fire, but there was a lot of carnage.’

The five-story windows surrounding the lobby were left hanging in dangerous shards, preventing survivors from using the main exits. 

Kravette escaped through an overpass leading toward the neighboring financial center.

Outside, someone told him that a plane had struck the tower. Like many witnesses, Kravette initially assumed it had been a catastrophic accident.

He could see the gaping hole high above him and people holding hands as they jumped rather than face the flames.

Kravette was in the lobby of the North Tower when the first plane hit, thinking it was an accident until the second plane smashed into the South Tower

9/11 - THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY: READ ALL OUR COVERAGE

‘It was horrible,’ Kravette said. ‘But when the second plane hit, everyone obviously realized this wasn’t an accident.’

He deliberately stayed in Manhattan until that evening, trying to determine who had survived and what the firm should do next.

'No one heard from anybody… and I finally left Manhattan around 7 that night, and it was kind of creepy,' said Kravette.

In the first chaotic days, he and his colleagues clung to rumors that missing workers might be injured in hospitals.

‘I didn’t know for days everyone was gone. Days,’ he said. ‘People didn’t want to believe it.’

At home, Kravette warned his wife that Cantor Fitzgerald might collapse and that they needed to watch their expenses because much of his wealth was tied to the company.

Kravette and other survivors returned to work and began rebuilding. 

Each year, Cantor Fitzgerald and its affiliate BGC Group hold a charity day to raise money for the families of employees who died in the attacks. Actor Tom Hardy participated in central London on Friday

Cantor transferred operations to London as employees tried to reconstruct trading positions left behind by entire desks that had been wiped out.

‘Half the day was spent working, and the other half was going to funerals,’ Kravette said. ‘My wife and I would literally split up and go to different funerals, because they were overlapping.’ He estimated that he attended 40 or 50 services. 

When asked how he was able to rebuild the business and carry on with his life just days after the terrorist attacks, Kravette responded: ‘What choice do you have?’ 

'Keeping busy at work was therapeutic,' he added, noting it took about six months to feel like himself again. The experience made him stop worrying about small problems and focus on his wife and two young children.

‘I went the way of enjoying life more, and not sweating the small stuff,’ he said.

Cantor Fitzgerald survived and expanded. The firm also created an annual Charity Day, when its revenues are distributed to charitable causes in memory of those killed.

Each year, Cantor Fitzgerald and its affiliate BGC Group hold a Charity Day to commemorate the September 11 attacks and honor the 658 Cantor employees and 61 Euro Brokers colleagues and friends who were killed.

The companies donate all revenue generated that day to the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, while celebrity ambassadors join traders across several offices to represent participating charities.

Nearly 25 years later, Kravette believes his survival carries an urgent warning for America that the nation needs to remain vigilant

Actors, musicians, athletes, models, media personalities, politicians and members of royal families have taken part in the event, which continues the support Cantor received following the attacks.

Kravette said early fundraising supported victims’ families, provided healthcare for a decade and eventually helped children of employees who died find jobs at Cantor.

He still returns to Manhattan every September 11 to participate.

‘It makes a s**** day more fun,’ he said. ‘Doing a good deed.’

Kravette usually rejects requests to retell his story, but agreed to speak for the anniversary because younger generations increasingly view 9/11 as distant history.

‘They should be taught it, and that’s why I’m doing this interview,’ he said. ‘It’s important to tell the story.’

Nearly 25 years later, Kravette believes his survival carries an urgent warning for America. 

‘There are definitely bad people out there,’ he said. ‘I don’t think we can put our guard down, ever. We have to be vigilant as a nation.’