Why did people jump from the world trade towers?

shampoosuicide

watching that Falling Man documentary, the Mexican family really pissed me off. obviously they went through grief and all that, but the sheer retardedness of this 'oh, jumping is suicide and his soul is in limbo' and 'if he loved his daughters, he would have tried to find a way out' ...how thick are some people?

it's like torture - if someone's tortured for long enough, they're going to crack no matter what. nobody's a hero in the face of extreme physical pain. anyone who's labouring under the impression that jumping was somehow cowardly or selfish - well, let's just hope they never have to face the same thing and see how exactly they'd react

DamoDLK

I can't imagine what was going through their minds on the way down, poor souls.

What would be facing someone when the only rational thing to do is to jump to their death..

kiffer

staying would have been suicide... Jumping was their only chance... Though it wasn't very good at all...

Happy Monday

I know it's off topic but check out this link to a film called the bridge which tries to understand why people jump off the golden gate bridge - has actual footage of people jumping over a year - a little off topic but related.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwl-Pa_QT0M

murf313

the temperature in the building would have been unbearable. the planes were full of fuel when they hit jet fuel burns at around 1000 degrees c.
there is no way anybody that was still alive would have been able to stay in the building if they were any where near that fire
i have been in fires at around 180 degrees with all the proper equipment on and i can tell you any little bit of flesh exposed will burn and blister straight away.
i would imagine the only logical choice for these people was to jump, it had to be better than the heat...

walshb

Their jumping was not suicide at all, it was a desperate act to save themselves, as slim as the chances were, they were slimmer had those people stayed in the building I would imagine.

Suicide is the deliberate taking of ones life. I am betting that those jumpers weren't thinking about suicide before they jumped, they were thinking about escaping the fire and the building

Ricky91t

I'd hate to think what it was like inside the building and jumping was their only chance or surviving on the off chance they landed on something soft,I'm sure being in that building after the plane hit it would of been horrible,You'd probably here the screams of people being burnt to death and screams of the people discovering they're trapped in the building.

I'm sure the people doing it didn't really think about it and just took the only chance they had.

6th

MmmmmCheese wrote: »

Why did people jump out the windows of the world trade centres after they had been hit?

To get to the other side?

Min

I was in New York two weeks after the attacks, the smell of burning concrete and steel was very strong even then, you have to take into account dust and stuff from the explosions too.
The fumes from the explosion and burning buildings and planes would have been overwhelming.
People nearer the fumes and the flames were probably the ones that had no option but to jump to avoid a Joan of Arc type death, I'm sure the ones further away had hope that they could be rescued from the roof.

It is just desperately sad and I hope to God none of us ever have to experience anything like that. I don't know how anyone thinks this is a topic that can be used for making light of the situation, we should be thankful it wasn't any of us in that impossible situation.

PeakOutput

Joey the lips wrote: »

They say it took an adverage of 10 seconds for a body to reach the ground. The condition of the body on the ground ment the only clean up method was a fire hose and shoval.

who says? bodies dont explode after falling in fact many times they will look quite normal on the outside as if nothing is wrong but they will have massive internal injuries

also who went to cleanup the bodies as the buildings were collapsing?

it is very sad but no need for the hyperbole the event was outrageous enough as it is

mattfender

Amalgam wrote: »

I always wondered why any amount, even a fraction of people weren't helped off by helicopters.

I visited the tower with the Restaurant and viewing platform.. and you could get access to the roof.

Ironically, we had to make our way to the lifts around a huge clump of temporary air conditioning equipment, due to the effects of the car park bombing.

apparently they were forbidden to land or something

alabamawhurley

"Actually there is a video of a fella who tries to climb out of the North tower, gets a blast of wind or something and falls to his certain death. I can link to it if people wanna see it, ya dont see the landin or anything, but to try to put yourself in his shoes is just impossible. It must have been the most horrible feeling ever."



Hey Coyle could you please post link for this. Dreadfully sad but strangely facinating

mattfender

shampoosuicide wrote: »

Liam Gallagher saw it all coming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnyMxcTk_UA

oo you posted that at 9:11... :eek:

how did he predict it??

aidan24326

Ciaran500 wrote: »

You wouldn't suffocate

You're quite right. I don't know where this suffocation myth came from. You're only falling for maybe 8 seconds or so, so suffocation hardly comes into it.

shampoosuicide wrote: »

watching that Falling Man documentary, the Mexican family really pissed me off. obviously they went through grief and all that, but the sheer retardedness of this 'oh, jumping is suicide and his soul is in limbo' and 'if he loved his daughters, he would have tried to find a way out' ...how thick are some people?

I thought that too. Their attitude really sucked. Religious nonsense at its worst.

thebman

Irregularities in the pension fund.

citizen_p

for the craic... you could never open the windows before

sock puppet

I've always wondered about this. I mean 10 seconds to hit the ground. Imagine what it'd feel like while falling. :eek:

nlgbbbblth

so some people still believe the old "they'd be dead before they hit the ground" chestnut? It's only a ten second fall.

using that logic, parachute jumpers would die if they didn't open their chutes as soon as they exited the plane - instead of waiting and freefalling for a while like they usually do.

PeakOutput

having just reached the waypoint of 60mins in freefall i can in fact categorically confirm that they would not be dead before they hit the ground and most most likely they would not be unconscious either

KilOit

Bit of a difference jumping with a parachute and jumping to your death.

InkSlinger67

Mousey- wrote: »

for the craic... you could never open the windows before

Ya, I agree with ya there! There have been many occassions when starting my PC and getting BSOD I have wanted to jump to my death! :mad::mad::mad:

sean0

They only had two options and unfortunately staying alive wasn't one.They could suffocate/burn or Jump to their death.People who jumped,some of them, had written letters to their families etc... so if they burned they couldn't of left a message saying good bye.

Agricola

Its a pity Bear Grylls hadnt been around back then. Im pretty sure in one episode he fashioned a rudimentary parachute out of his trousers for just such an eventuality.

DarkJager

Weigh up what you'd rather choose: burning to death, being crushed as the building collapses or jumping to what will be an instant death? I know what I'd pick

STBR

MmmmmCheese wrote: »

They surely knew they couldnt survive such a drop.

:pac:

nlgbbbblth

would hitting the ground from that height be sore?

Sharpshooter

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

would hitting the ground from that height be sore?

I guess there's only one way to find out for sure.
I won't be trying it, will you?

giggsy664

Well, it's either die a horrible, painful, burning, choking death, OR jump, quick painless, with a very slim chance of surviving either way.

2 or 3 people who have jumped off the Eiffel tower have survived apparently

Joey the lips

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

would hitting the ground from that height be sore?

Well i imagine you could lick you balls and scratch your arse with your teeth what do you think?

antodeco

giggsy664 wrote: »

2 or 3 people who have jumped off the Eiffel tower have survived apparently

Were they in seine?

/gets coat