Woman who survived 9/11 attacks says bin Laden’s death is a relief

Published May 3, 2011 in The Boston Globe MetroDesk Blog

For one Plymouth woman, the death of Osama bin Laden Sunday had more than the usual resonance – Maura Heidcamp narrowly escaped death in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Heidcamp was working in the export division of Ocean Spray and had gone to New York for a training class the night before the attack.

The group of about 12 people from across the country met around 8:30 a.m. on the 55th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. They introduced themselves to each other at the beginning of the meeting. Once they finished, the instructor turned on a PowerPoint presentation. Then the plane hit.

She and the others were able to leave the building using the stairs in an orderly fashion, without panic. Around the 20th floor, firefighters passed them on their way up but would not give them any information.

The news of bin Laden’s death nearly 10 years later – at the hands of a US special forces team in Pakistan — took her by surprise because she thought the hunt for bin Laden had been put on the back burner.

“It was happy for me, but it just kind of brings everything back when you hear that,” she said. “I was relieved that they had not only found him, but had killed him.”