"Just at the peak, all of a sudden there was a big impact, a crash... a noise... like an explosion, and we were all thrown to the floor.  And [after passing the tower] it went down very fast.  I thought it was going to crash at the other end, but then it stopped.  But it was still swinging wildly, and all these metal bricks [ballast weights] were scattered around.

This account was assembled in a conversation with these four passengers
Masae Moore Island House	Ryoko Takaki Island House	Marie Khan Kacou Manhattan Park	Joyce Ayoub Trajanovic Island House

"The woman next to me, who was reading a book, just screamed, and her face was streaming down with tears.  It was very wild.

"We were swinging strongly.  We were just thrown...  [Later] the doctor asked me 'How did you fall?' but I don't know how I fell, on whom I fell.  I was asking for my friend, 'Where is Marie?' She was looking for me.  I was thinking, 'the kids, the kids.' I'm Lebanese and I lived the war in Beirut for years.  A bomb even exploded in front of my house near my baby's crib.  But I never felt like death as much as that day...

"They slid down on us.  Practically everyone was on the floor.

"I was so afraid that the cable was going to snap.  At one point we were down on the floor, and Elliot [cabin attendant Elliot Isaac] said, 'It's the crane.  It's the damn crane.'

"We thought we were going down.  I thought this was the end of my life...  I thought, 'How can we escape from this,' and not knowing how deep the river is - but I have seen big ships going by.  The doors were tightly shut and I was constantly thinking how to survive, and at the same time, a couple of women were really wild...

"Eric [Trowbridge] was bleeding from the back of his head, and didn't know he was bleeding until he was told.  Later, he found out he had two cracked ribs, as well.

"I was very calm but I was thinking of the movie 'Titanic.' That's my expression of it.

"The UN lady was screaming, 'We're dying!'

"Elliot acted very calm and said, 'We'll be OK,' and then the car stopped, and two guys from the tower came on.  Elliot was being very angry at the crane.  'That damn crane.  They're supposed to inform us, they're not supposed to be in this position.'

"Someone told the operator to call for an ambulance.

"I left the tram.  I was able to walk, and I was on the way to Crunch [gym], when my head started bothering me, because I had bumped my head, and I had a little cut on my elbow.  I spoke to my husband on the phone and decided I should go to the hospital.  I saw a lot of ambulances, the firefighters, and some TV crews.  I went to the token booth and I was asked, 'Why are you here? The Tram is closed.' I told them I was on the Tram and I put my name on the list.  We saw two guys - one who was bleeding from the face...

"I could walk, so I wrote down my name and went to my appointment but by the time I reached my appointment the pain was coming up from my ankle, and by the time the meeting was finished, on the way home, my whole left leg was hurting.  It was so strange - I didn't know what was hurting it.  Then the next day I looked at my foot and at the ankle there was a dark circle around the ankle and it was black and blue and I thought it... and it was just a strange pain, so I decided to go to a doctor.

"The next morning I started to have neck pain so my husband and I went to the doctor.  I got really strong pain killers that sometimes make me feel stoned...  This makes my life crazy because my kids go to school at PS6, and I pickthem up from the school bus, and I need my husband's help.

"I went to RIOC [the next day].  I didn't know if anybody was going to pay for medical expenses, so I went to RIOC.  The receptionist, a black man, asked me, 'Do you have an attorney? Get a lawyer,' he said.  He didn't take my name or anything, and didn't seem to have any instructions on how to handle it.

"I don't blame the Tram.  I think eventually I would take it again because I would want to overcome the fear.  We were suspended there and I thought we were going to drop.  It was the crane, not the Tram people, and I should take it again, just to overcome my fear.

"Yesterday I saw them trying the Tram, and I could see it from the window.  I know maybe I'll have to take it, but will I take my kids on the Tram? I don't know.  There is a first time for everything, and anything can happen...

"The subway is not 100% safe, either.  I would not take a subway late at night.  [Even after this accident] I feel the Tram is safer.

"In my case I need [the Tram].  The Tram is very important for me.  The tram is safer than the subway, and the subway is going to land only every 20 minutes [after the scheduled February 22 service cut].  My family and I were talking about how convenient the Tramway is - every 15 minutes.  If the Tram is fixed, 100 percent, I would like to use it.

"I think the Tram was really strong and well-maintained to withstand this accident."

"I think Elliot was good," said Marie Khan Kacou.  "He was very cool.  He said, 'We'll be fine, we'll be fine.' After that he said, 'We're going to land.  We're going to make it.'" Joyce Ayoub Trojanovic concurred: "He calmed the people.  He was angry with the crane."

Asked their feelings about having had no contact from the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, Ryoko Takaki said, "It doesn't surprise me.  I've heard so much negative..." Marie Khan Kacou said, "I thought even if maybe they didn't have the names that maybe there would be an announcement - people involved please contact - but there was nothing like that.  We were worried about the guy we left lying there - is he OK?"