9/11 sufferer Edna Cintron – the ‘waving lady who by no means misplaced hope’
Edna Cintron, known as the ‘waving woman who never lost hope,’ is one of the thousands of people being remembered on the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Cintron, 46, an administrative assistant with Marsh & McLennan was trying to get help and was seen in the haunting image, standing at the edge, 93 stories high, in the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
She was waving near a gaping hole after one of the planes – Flight 11 – crashed into the building – on that hellish day surrounded by scorching flames and black smoke clouds.
Eerie images revealed that many people who were trying to escape jumped from the towers before the devastating collapse.
By 10.28am, the waving stopped as the North Towers completely crumbled to the ground and Cintron became one of the 2,996 who perished that day.
Cintron’s iconic image is still shared, circulated and remembered.
Edna Cintron, 46, worked as an administrative assistant for Marsh & McLennan at World Trade Center, Tower 1
The haunting image of Cintron waving hoping that someone will come to her rescue before the North Tower collapsed
In the video posted by 9/11 Revisited Cintron’s husband William explained the agonizing moments before his wife perished.
According to the footage, he ‘tentatively identified’ his wife ‘as the woman who stood at the edge of the impact hole for twenty minutes waiting in hope of being rescued.’
However, a man whose fiancé was also in the building claimed that the waving woman – dressed in white trousers and a black shirt – was not Edna Cintron but his fiancée Karen Juday.
The man’s claim was based on the clothes that his late fiancée had worn to work that day, as per 911 Revisited.
Other details from the chilling video shows Cintron along with two other people trying to survive.
An unidentified woman who took the video is heard during the emotional call. ‘David might be trying to call me,’ she said crying. ‘I will call you back.’
The blaring sounds of sirens, news reporters on the ground, and complete chaos is heard in the background.
An obituary published in Legacy.com spoke of Cintron’s ‘courage and strength.’
Her husband, William Cintron shared how the couple had once been homeless and how Cintron supported him during their twelve-year marriage as he struggled with alcoholism.
He said he remained sober due to her love and support.
Al-Qaida hijackers crashed two planes into the Twin Towers
The gaping hole pictured after a plane crashed into the North towers of the World Trade Center
‘She made sure that she kept me in check,’ he said. ‘She made sure that I did the things I was supposed to do. She was a very, very strong woman because she would put her foot down.’
He also admitted that Cintron ‘was more like a mother’ to him.’
‘She would make sure that I would eat right and she would make sure that no one would manipulate me. So she was also my backbone. She made me strong. She made me who I am today.’
And he also remembered how she made their East Elmhurt house a home.
‘She would come out of work, come home, cook, make sure that when I would come out of work there was food on the table and everything,’ he said.
‘And every night we would have ice cream and we would watch TV.’
On September 11, 2001 a hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center and exploded at 9:03am during the unprecedented assault.
The two airliners were hijacked by terrorists by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and nearly 3,000 people perished during the collapse of the twin towers.
