Exactly 25 years ago today, on 11 September 2001, the United States witnessed the worst terrorist attacks in modern history as multiple planes crashed into buildings on its East Coast. Among the 2,977 victims was one Belgian.
On the morning of 11 September, two hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre and one into the Pentagon, the headquarters building of the US Department of Defence.
A fourth plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as the passengers on the plane managed to overwhelm the hijackers, forcing them to crash the plane in a field. It is assumed that the intended target of the attack was either the White House or the Capitol.
Patrice Braut, a 31-year-old Belgian hailing from the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht, was in one of the towers of the World Trade Centre at the time of the attack. His office was located on the 97th floor of the South Tower.
As the hijacked Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower from floors 77 through 85, he and his colleagues were unable to escape.
The attack was broadcast live as news channels were covering the fire that broke out after Flight 11 had crashed into the North Tower.
Patrice Braut's name on Ground Zero. Credit: Benoit Doppagne
Braut had moved to New York in 1995 and started working for Marsh & McLennan, a US consortium of insurance companies and asset managers. He worked as an executive manager and was dating a colleague, Lupe Mendez. They met at a company Christmas party in 1997 and were planning to get married.
Moving to the US had been a lifelong dream of him. In an interview after the attacks, Braut's parents said that he would do anything to make his American dream a success.
As an amateur photographer, Braut has taken hundreds of photos of New York's iconic skyline. From his office on one of the highest floors of the South Tower, he had a unique vantage point on the skyline he loved so much.
Records showed that Braut had clocked into work early on the day of the terrorist attack. He was declared dead, and an empty casket was buried at the Anderlecht cemetery. Mendez worked in a different office and was not in the South Tower at the time of the attack.
Braut was officially identified as a victim in 2014, when one of his baby teeth was linked to the then-unidentified victim 1,639. The DNA of the tooth matched a single bone fragment found in the rubble of the building.
