British survivor Janice Brooks, who narrowly escaped the collapse of the South Tower on 9/11, has said she will never forgive herself for only being able to attend 23 of her colleagues' funerals, describing her heart as still "broken" a quarter of a century later. Brooks, then an executive assistant for Euro Brokers, had arrived in New York just 19 days before the attacks and was working on the 84th floor when hijacked planes struck the Twin Towers, killing 61 of her colleagues. Her account highlights the lasting psychological toll on survivors of the attacks and underscores why she now devotes her time to educating young people who have no living memory of the event.

Brooks was evacuating after the North Tower was hit but was told to return inside due to overcrowding on the plaza, only for the second plane to strike her building moments later, just below her floor. She managed to escape and has since returned to the UK, where, now 66 and retired, she works as a guest speaker for the charity Since 9/11, visiting schools to teach pupils about extremism and tolerance. She is travelling back to New York to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks, which killed 2,977 people in total.