Survived the 9/11 attacks – and died two months later in a plane crash

Hilda Mayol survived the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center, but died two months later in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587. Her family now reveals, 25 years later, her tragic story.

The tragic story of Hilda Mayol, who survived the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center, is now being revealed for the first time by her family, 25 years after her death. Mayol worked in a restaurant on the ground floor of one of the Twin Towers and managed to escape the collapsing building. Just two months and one day later, on November 12, 2001, she boarded American Airlines Flight 587 from New York to the Dominican Republic. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 260 passengers and crew, and five additional people on the ground. Contrary to initial fears, it was not another terrorist attack but a tragic pilot error. Her daughter, Yari Mayol, who was a 10-month-old baby at the time of her mother's death, spoke about the difficulty of thinking about her final moments. Her older sister, Iris, described the morning she heard about the crash. Hilda is described as a hardworking woman who financially supported her relatives in the Dominican Republic. Her name is engraved on a memorial wall in the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, the crash site.