“Never forget” is more than just a phrase for a Bermudian who survived the September 11 terrorist attack 22 years ago today.

Kristi Foggo said she is often reminded of the tragic day that rocked the world.

“I think about it frequently, but more so when there are different catastrophic events that continue to happen in the world today that reminds me in some way of it,” Ms Foggo said.

“When it occurred, they said ‘never forget’, and that holds true. It is something that you never forget. It is still with me.”

On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four commercial planes, two of which were crashed into the World Trade Centre in Manhattan, while a third struck the Pentagon in Washington.

Ms Foggo then worked at the American Stock Exchange on Wall Street in New York City, just a short distance from the World Trade Centre.

“That was my stop, and it was about a block and a half away from the towers,” she said.

“It was a beautiful morning. It was a picture-perfect day. I went to the Chase Manhattan bank to do a transaction before work, so I was in the tower when the first plane went in but I didn’t know. I was on one of the lower floors.

“When I came out I got to exchange and I saw everyone looking at the monitors that we usually trade from. They all showed the plane and the first tower.”

Ms Foggo said that like many others, she thought the crash was a tragic accident until the second tower was struck.

“That’s when everything went chaotic,” she said. “Thousands of people and I went to the South Street Seaport and I walked all the way up until I found a ferry that went to New Jersey.

“It took me about 10½ hours to get home. I was walking, crying, running, in total shock. Shock was something I had never experienced before. The shock of that event was just unmistakable. It was unbelievable.”

She said that when she reached New Jersey, she could see the towers burning in the distance.

“My motivation was to get to my son, Anthony, who was in school in Jersey City,” she said. ”That was the motivator to get me going because I didn’t know where he was and he didn’t know where I was.

“I just walked and walked and walked to get home.”

While Ms Foggo was unharmed by the attack, many others were less fortunate, including those whom she knew.

“The gentleman who was training me on the stock exchange trading floor died that morning,” she said. “He and some other colleagues who I knew were attending a breakfast meeting and were unable to make it out of the tower."

Ms Foggo later moved back to Bermuda, but returned to New York to see the monument created at the site.

“Returning to the World Trade Centre to see the 9/11 memorial was traumatic for me, but it was something which I had to do. I was accompanied there by my mother, Elaine Fox, and my son, Anthony Howell.

“It was extremely difficult for me, but it was something I had to do.

“I had to see it and the footprint where the towers stood, and I had to see the names of my mentor and friends etched into the footprint.

“That was one of the hardest things I had to do. I haven’t been back to the memorial. I don’t think I could go back. It’s very sombre.”