September 11 survivor from North Yorkshire reflects on 20th anniversary of terrorist atrocity, and says he can still "smell the burning plastic"

Paul Berriff, 75, a documentary filmmaker, travelled to the scene of the attacks on the World Trade Centre to take photographs and film footage.

But when the South Tower collapsed just 20m away from where he was filming, Mr Berriff found himself facing a “tsunami of debris.”

Mr Berriff was knocked out under the rubble for almost half an hour.

Twenty years on from the terrorist attacks which changed the world forever, he says he remembers them “like it was yesterday.”

He said: “There was a loud explosion and I panned my camera round to the South Tower to see it peeling away.

“I could see this tsunami of debris coming towards me, and I could hear the firemen shouting ‘run, run, run’

“About a hundred thousand tonnes of steel and concrete was heading towards me. After about three seconds I realised it was no place to be, and we started running down the street.

“It sounded like a dozen jumbo jets chasing me. I kept my camera running.

“I was suddenly hit like a giant fly swat with a whoosh of air and everything went black. The next thing I remember, I was crawling through the debris.

“I was lying in the debris when the North Tower came down on me as well.”

Mr Berriff was only made his way out to safety by crawling through the debris out onto the street, but visibility was so bad that he had to feel for the sides of cars to understand he wasn’t still trapped underneath the remains of the Towers.

He said: “Every major disaster leaves a smell signature. The smell was of burning plastic, and I can still smell it now.

“Some voice in my head said ‘Paul, you’ve crossed the line now’. I just turned round and started to work my way back to my apartment.”

Miraculously, Mr Berriff escaped with only minor injuries, as did his sound director Lou Lou Machin.

While Mr Berriff said he still thinks about the disaster every day, he does not believe he suffered from any post-traumatic stress following the attacks.

He said: “I’ve never had any nightmares or dreams about it at all. I’ve managed to let it float above my head.

“It has had an effect on me, but I do talks about 9/11 and I think that’s a way to get it out of my system.

“The whole world changed, as we now know. That was the start. To be there, to witness it, was incredible.

“It is still traumatic, no matter who you are, but my escape is talking about it.”