
September 11, 2001 began as any other day for Joanne ‘Jojo’ Capestro. Despite not feeling well, she went to work in her office on the 87th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

Not long after arriving, Capestro, then aged 39, was planning to go downstairs with a co-worker but stopped because her desk phone rang. While on the call, hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower – six floors above Capestro’s office for the May Davis Group where she was an assistant secretary.

After finding the only available stairwell exit, Capestro rushed down the 87 flights of stairs, part of the way in high heels, before running out of the North Tower all within 22 minutes. Moments later the tower collapsed.

Covered in toxic dust and debris from the scene, Capestro was captured in a photo taken by acclaimed photographer Phil Penman, who grabbed his camera and rushed to the scene when he found out a plane hit the North Tower.

He spent much of the day taking photos of those who survived the terrorist attacks along with harrowing photos of rescue workers and civilians helping the thousands affected. Penman eventually donated the photo he captured of Capestro along with others to be displayed inside the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

To his surprise, staff there immediately recognized Capestro in his image and united Penman with her three years ago.

Six weeks ago, at her request, he was the photographer at her August 11 wedding.

Speaking to DailyMail.com about her life changing experience that occurred 17 years ago today, Capestro said: ‘Phil and I stayed in touch all of these years. Six weeks ago he was the photographer at my wedding. Phil was with me on the best day of my life and the worst day of my life.’

Joanne ‘Jojo’ Capestro escaped from the 87th floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower on September 11, 2001 before fleeing to the debris and dust covered streets of lower Manhattan with a coworker. She was captured in the image above on the left by photographer Phil Penman who took dozens of gripping and poignant images of the scene around the Twin Towers

Three years ago, Penman and Capestro were reunited and kept in touch and six weeks ago he served as the photographer at her dream wedding to her husband, Robert Vasquez (pictured together right). Speaking to DailyMail.com, Capestro said: 'Phil was with me on the best day of my life and the worst day of my life.’ She is pictured above left with Penman on her wedding day, August 11th

The September 11th terrorist attacks left 2,996 people dead and more than 6,000 others injured in the United States. The fateful day has since been known as the worst domestic attack America has ever experienced.

Capestro, who visits the memorial in lower Manhattan every year to recognize those who died including her co-worker Harry Ramos, explained in vivid detail how she survived.

‘That was a regular day for me, when I woke up in the morning I didn’t feel well, but I still went to work,’ Capestro said. ‘And I was standing at my desk with one of my co-workers because we were going to go downstairs. But the phone rang and he answered, then the plane hit five or six floors above us.

‘The impact was so strong and the building was shaking until all of a sudden it stopped.’

She said her and her colleagues realized two of the three stairwell exits were inaccessible because they were damaged from the crash and ‘melting’.

Capestro explained that September 11, 2001 began like any other day for her. She felt ill but still decided to go to into work from her home in Brooklyn. Then aged 39, Capestro worked on the 87th floor of the North Tower as a sales assistant secretary for financial firm the May Davis Group. She explained that the first plane crashed into her tower about six floors above her office. Pictured above is an image Penman captured of the Twin Towers moments after the two hijacked planes hit both buildings

Capestro said it took her exactly 22 minutes to escape from the North Tower where she scrambled down the 87 flights of stairs. Pictured above is an image showing people crowding the streets of lower Manhattan while watching the scene unfold

Minutes after escaping onto the street, the North Tower completely collapsed, Capestro recalled. She explained those who could escape were running for their lives. Pictured above is a gripping image captured by Penman showing the North Tower as it collapse and the South Tower still on fire

The September 11th terrorist attacks left 2,996 people dead and more than 6,000 others injured in the United States. The fateful day has since been known as the worst domestic attack America has ever experienced. Pictured above are people covered in dust and debris fleeing the horrific scene in lower Manhattan in an image captured by Penman

They rushed to a third stairwell that was completely empty at the moment.

‘The third exit we never really used so we were lucky to even find that exit. We didn’t get to exit off the 87th floor until the second plane went into the other building,’ she recalled.

‘I remember it was like it was yesterday to be honest with you. You know, we had to make face masks. Then we proceeded to go down the steps and I have to be honest with you, there was nobody coming from upstairs to go.

‘I thought that everybody must have left already from above because I thought it was going to be crowded, when they didn’t have a chance to make it out.’

Capestro added that once they reached the 64th floor she began to notice more people crowding into the stairwell to escape.

People immediately united together to support and comfort each other through the traumatic attacks on the country. Pictured left a man comforts a woman sitting on the beck of an emergency vehicle and pictured right a man dressed in a suit covers his face while walking among the piles of dust and debris from the collapsed towers

Three emergency workers walk among the dust and debris covered street in the image above captured by Penman near the scene of the collapsed Twin Towers and not far from the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge in lower Manhattan

A woman is pictured above being escorted by a police officer away from Ground Zero in another striking image captured by Penman, who had worked several hours earlier that morning taking images of celebrities leaving the Thompson Hotel in Soho

The above image captured by Penman shows several people walking away from Ground Zero while covered in debris and dust from the collapsed Twin Towers

Within 22 minutes, Capestro made it a few steps out of the North Tower when it began collapsing and she started running and screaming “God help me”.

At some point while trying to escape from the horrific scene, Capestro was unknowingly captured in a photo with one of her co-workers covered in dust and debris by Penman.

In the gripping image, Capestro looks completely shell-shocked while staring into the direction of the camera lens while walking barefoot and holding her heels and purse in one hand.

She explained that she didn’t recall Penman at the scene and didn’t know he took that photo of her until three years ago when she was connected with the photographer by staff members at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

Three men walk past an entrance to a subway station which has a poster advertising the September 21 release of Denzel Washington's blockbuster hit movie Training Day

The heart-wrenching image above captured by Penman shows emergency personnel and civilians working alongside each other to help the injured near Ground Zero

‘When we met, he came into my office and just looked at me and I looked at him and just started crying,’ Capestro said of the moment she met Penman for the first time.

‘That’s how it all started and we stayed in touch for all of these years. Now here we are today and six weeks ago, on August 11th, he was the photographer at my wedding.

‘He was with me for the best day of my life and the worst day of my life.’

She added that it was ‘an amazing experience’ to have him present when she married the love of her life, Robert Vasquez.