Family meets woman who took historic 9/11 call
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In Cary, North Carolina, Vanessa Minter recently met the family of Betty Ong, a flight attendant who made the first phone call from American Airlines Flight 11 after it was hijacked on September 11, 2001.
Minter, an American Airlines reservations agent, answered Ong’s call and listened as Ong reported the hijacking while the plane was still in flight.
Ong provided crucial details that helped the FAA ground all U.S. aircraft, and Minter was the last person Ong spoke to before the plane crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower. Three weeks after the attacks, Minter wrote to Ong’s family in California, sharing her memories of Ong’s bravery and concern for the passengers. The family received the letter and learned for the first time about the call Ong made from the plane.
For 25 years, Minter and the Ong family did not meet in person. Recently, Minter traveled to California and reunited with Ong’s brother, Harry, at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, where Ong is memorialized. Crews recovered a fragment of Ong’s bone near Ground Zero in 2002. Harry invited Minter to his home, where she also met Ong’s 99-year-old mother, Gum.
