'I'll still love you if you're burnt'

Sunday Mirror, Sep 16, 2001 by LUKE SCOTT

TWO married lift opera-tors survived the carnage in the World Trade Center's north tower.

Arturo Griffith, 54, was working the freight lift, on his way up to the 78th floor to meet his wife.

Carmen Griffith, 48, was working the passenger elevator between 78th and 107th floors, going to Windows on the World.

They both survived the blast. But two days passed before either spouse learned the other was alive.

They wed in 1995 and have lived and worked side by side ever since. But Tuesday's terror nearly tore them apart forever.

"I felt the explosion and the elevator dropped," Arturo said at St. Vincents Hospital in Manhattan, where he's being treated for a broken leg. Meanwhile, on the 78th floor, Carmen inside her elevator when the blast hit.

Carmen's face and hands were severely burned as she exited the elevator.

On Thursday, he found she was alive and called her. "I told him I was a little burnt, but that I'm still me," she said.

"He said, 'I don't care. I love you'."