Wednesday, October 14, 2009

WTC attack burn victim dies after six-week struggle

Last Modified: 12:50 a.m. 10/24/2001

The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- A woman who was doused in flaming jet fuel while waiting for a bus near the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 has died of her injuries, six weeks after the disaster. Jeannieann Maffeo, 40, died Monday. She had suffered severe burns all over her body. On the morning of the terrorist attacks, Maffeo was waiting to catch a bus to her job as a senior associate in systems development at UBS PaineWebber. When the first plane in the terrorist attack smashed into the 110-story tower, she was caught in a cascade of burning jet fuel.

She was helped by a man who had narrowly dodged the falling debris. Ron Clifford, 47, had ducked into the lobby of a hotel to avoid the deadly shower. He spotted Maffeo, severely burned, staggering through the revolving door into the hotel. Clifford, whose sister and niece were passengers on the plane that slammed into the second tower that morning, wrapped her in his coat and helped her to an ambulance.

Maffeo's burns were so severe that family members needed to wear scrubs when visiting her at the burn unit of the Cornell Medical Center to prevent any infection. She is survived by her parents, a sister and a brother.

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