Magyar News, 2001. szeptember-2002. augusztus (12. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2001-12-01 / 4. szám
BUDAPEST LAWYER ESCAPES DISASTER By Beáta Pál A Hungarian lawyer has returned to Budapest after living through the deadly terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center while on a business trip to New York. György Fehér, 37, who works for the Weil, Gotshal and Manges law office in Budapest, left the country for the United States on September 8 - three days before disaster struck. He had an interview at the Immigration Office in New York on the fateful Tuesday morning and had planned to come back to Hungary the same day, but was forced to delay his return trip for almost a week in the aftermath of the deliberate plane crashes. Fehér said his interview in New York, scheduled for 8.20am, was shorter than anticipated and he was heading to the elevators a few minutes before 9 am. “I noticed the immigration inspector who had interviewed me a few minutes earlier, he was stony-faced and running towards us screaming ‘The tower has been hit by a plane! said Fehér. As there was no immediate talk of casualties, people descended to the street in silence. "Then I saw a hole in the World Trade Center." said Fehér. "People were gaping and walking towards the tower, not away from it. Some were in shock, a few were crying, but for the most part the reactions were reminiscent of a movie audience watching a disaster film. "Onlookers were yelling with agitated fascination and taking pictures." Then he began to witness the gruesome sight of people jumping out of the building. "I felt nauseous and wanted to throw up, feeling the blood rushing from my body. “I have witnessed death before, but never like this, never with such sudden and certain brutality and never amidst a group of onlookers taking snap-shots," said Fehér. "I was also in New York in 1993 when the World Trade Center was attacked and six people died. Then it was as if a huge accident had taken place." "As I contemplated what to do, beginning to feel the blood returning to my veins, I heard a terrific boom, with an intensity of which I have never heard in my life," said Fehér. The second plane had struck. "Windows rattled, glass began to rain down and I felt as though someone was pushing me to the ground. I jumped into an open store and looked up. A huge ball of fire hung in the air and then quickly evaporated, leaving a sliver of flame on the left side of the building reaching up the floors. "In the meantime, the north tower’s György Fehér, Esq. top was engulfed in smoke. It looked dreadful, but there was nothing to make us fearful. Thousands, perhaps millions, of papers and pieces of debris were flying through the air. I dared not look at the black hole, fearing the sight of more people leaping to their deaths. I felt horrible, my stomach was churning, my head was aching and I was covered in dirt," Fehér explained. He made his way north towards Canal Street and walked in about 20 minutes daze, then caught a cab. The roads were jammed as always and he got to Upper West Side, around six miles north, at about 10.15am. "As I entered the apartment, my mother hugged me and told me the tower had collapsed. We stood there incredulously, frozen, for a long time - until the other tower came down too," Fehér remembered. Since that time he has been grieving for the dead and missing. "As I look back, I can say that while the country did not have a President in the country, New York had a mayor. President Bush only come to New York after three days, while New York Mayor, Rudolph Guliani, was in a building which actually [later] collapsed." He commented that an atmosphere of panic could have created an even bigger disaster in a city of 22 million, shops could have been robbed and different races could have turned against each other in areas where Arabs, Jews, whites and blacks lived. JFK airport was empty when he left. "There were more security guards at the Ferihegy airport in Budapest," he said. "I am not afraid to go back to New York, but I am sure that there will be a change in the lives of New Yorkers." He thought the twin towers would not be rebuilt as nobody would move into the buildings since they would be like "graves". Courtesy of <www.budapestsun.com> MORE NEWS From the Hungarian News Agency, MTI, in Budapest: All Afghan illegal immigrants will be taken to the Szombathely community shelter operated by the Border Guard while immigration authority proceedings are underway. A total of 2,749 Afghan nationals had applied for a refugee status in Hungary by late September At present there are 200 Afghan citizens at the shelter, where conditions are quite satisfactory, and where they await a decision by the authorities. Refugee proceedings have been terminated in 1,358 instances because of the applicant's disappearance. Reception centers currently accommodate some 1,000 Afghans, with 200 staying at border guard community lodgings. This means that authorities have no information on the whereabouts of some 1,500, who have either left the country or are waiting somewhere for an opportunity to leave. People in refugee camps can freely move in the country with a certificate proving the start of refugee proceedings, which they receive after undergoing health and national security checks. Although just fewer than 100 were found to face a genuine risk of persecution, no one will be forced to leave Hungary in view of the situation in Afghanistan. This is part of an E-mail we received from the Warners who live in the Washington area: We are all fine here - just still kind of shell shocked of the events of the last month. I was just starting to lose that knot in my stomach when the bombing started yesterday, and the talk of retaliation started in earnest. Scary times. We did not know anyone directly involved in either NYC or the Pentagon, but we did have a few coincidences. Bill and I flew over the New York skyline the night before the bombing there - we had taken a long weekend to Cape Cod, and were flying back from Providence like 14 hours before the Trade Center was hit. And the next morning, Brooke drove right in front of the Pentagon where the plane hit - her usual route to school. And a week before, Scott had been in the WTC for a meeting. Too creepy. Fortunately, all we have been is inconvenienced and disturbed, nothing like the terrible tragedy so many families are enduring. Page 7
