American injured by suicide bomb also survived September 11 attack
An American who survived the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York was among those injured by yesterday's suicide bomb attack in West Jerusalem's Jaffa Street. Bandaged and bloody, Mark Sokolow, 43, described from his hospital bed how he had escaped death twice in...
An American who survived the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York was among those injured by yesterday's suicide bomb attack in West Jerusalem's Jaffa Street.
Bandaged and bloody, Mark Sokolow, 43, described from his hospital bed how he had escaped death twice in four months.
"I heard like a loud 'whoosh' noise and then like a bang. And I kind of saw things flying around a little bit and then I realised I was able to get up and walk around," he said.
Mr Sokolow was on holiday in Israel with his family.
"I am sure there are many parallels that I'll be able to figure out... I don't know. I was obviously a lot luckier last time. This one involved my whole family," he said.
Mr Sokolow's wife and two daughters also suffered injuries in the blast. Mr Sokolow said that he and his daughter Lauren had cuts and bruises, while his wife, Rina, was getting a skin graft to her leg and his other daughter, Jamie, was undergoing eye surgery.
Mr Sokolow, from Long Island, New York, recalled running down flights of stairs in the World Trade Centre on September 11, when suicide hijackers flew commercial aircraft into the landmark New York buildings, killing nearly 3,000 people.
"I was in the second tower and we evacuated after somebody in my office saw that the first tower was on fire," he said.
"We walked downstairs from the 38th floor... Our building got hit [when] we were at the lobby level," he said, speaking from his hospital bed, his head bandaged and flecked with blood.
When the blast occurred yesterday, Mr Sokolow and his family were waiting at a shoe shop on Jaffa Street to pick up a package from a cousin to take back to New York.
"As a matter of fact we changed our plans after September 11... We were meant to go on vacation elsewhere. We changed our plans to bring our whole family here," said Mr Sokolow, who described himself as a religious Jew.
"We just felt that it was more important that we do this and come here and spend time in Israel as opposed to going elsewhere."
Bandaged and bloody, Mark Sokolow, 43, described from his hospital bed how he had escaped death twice in four months.
"I heard like a loud 'whoosh' noise and then like a bang. And I kind of saw things flying around a little bit and then I realised I was able to get up and walk around," he said.
Mr Sokolow was on holiday in Israel with his family.
"I am sure there are many parallels that I'll be able to figure out... I don't know. I was obviously a lot luckier last time. This one involved my whole family," he said.
Mr Sokolow's wife and two daughters also suffered injuries in the blast. Mr Sokolow said that he and his daughter Lauren had cuts and bruises, while his wife, Rina, was getting a skin graft to her leg and his other daughter, Jamie, was undergoing eye surgery.
Mr Sokolow, from Long Island, New York, recalled running down flights of stairs in the World Trade Centre on September 11, when suicide hijackers flew commercial aircraft into the landmark New York buildings, killing nearly 3,000 people.
"I was in the second tower and we evacuated after somebody in my office saw that the first tower was on fire," he said.
"We walked downstairs from the 38th floor... Our building got hit [when] we were at the lobby level," he said, speaking from his hospital bed, his head bandaged and flecked with blood.
When the blast occurred yesterday, Mr Sokolow and his family were waiting at a shoe shop on Jaffa Street to pick up a package from a cousin to take back to New York.
"As a matter of fact we changed our plans after September 11... We were meant to go on vacation elsewhere. We changed our plans to bring our whole family here," said Mr Sokolow, who described himself as a religious Jew.
"We just felt that it was more important that we do this and come here and spend time in Israel as opposed to going elsewhere."
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