TEN years ago tomorrow, Patricia Sabga woke up at home in New York with a day reporting for CNN from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange ahead of her.

Tomorrow, she will wake at her home in Worcestershire where she co-authors books with her husband which try to expose the truth behind the War on Terror.

The catalyst for this shift – which saw her “swap business suits for flak jackets” and, eventually, the hustle of New York for the tranquility of Worcestershire – was 9/11.

It started with a radio broadcast – a “small plane” had hit one of the towers – and an instruction to get down there to report on “the fire”. By the time she got off the subway, both towers were on fire.

Ms Sagba said: “It was a surreal scene. Thousands of people were walking away, very calmly and orderly.

“Policeman and other city workers were saying, ‘Keep moving’. And, every now and again, people looked back over their shoulders.

“And it was quiet, except for the sound of the fire. It was as though I was standing next to a roaring inferno. It was sucking up all the oxygen from the air. You cannot imagine it.”

Ms Sabga began walking towards the towers, not knowing what the story was, but knowing she had to find out.

She got within 300 yards before she was stopped by a policewoman who refused to let her through. In hindsight, this saved her life.

What happened next was something no one expected.

“The ground started shaking violently. The ground was moving and at that point, the crowds were not calm. It was like a disaster movie, with everybody running.

“I jumped behind a big stone planter and I shouted into my phone, ‘Take me to air’. Then there was the massive explosion, the screaming went silent and the windows blew out.

“Then the tower just started to collapse on itself. For a split second I thought, ‘I’ve really screwed up. I’m going to die’.”

Then she began to run, trying to reach the corner before the cloud of dust and debris engulfed her.

She didn’t make it: “As I ran, the cloud came over me. It was like a black monster – darkness with no light.”

But then Ms Sabga saw a light – albeit dim – which she ran towards and someone grabbed her and pulled her inside a building.

As others were coming to terms with barely escaping with their lives, Ms Sabga knew she had a job to do.

Her mobile phone was out – the signal had gone when the tower fell – so she went to the cellar where there was a landline to call CNN.

However, she was cut short as hysterical people demanded she stop hogging the phone, despite her assurances that she would read all their names out on air.

She ventured out into the street once more to find a payphone. “It was like an image of a post-apocalyptic nuclear winter. Everything was covered in a thick layer of ash and it was still falling. There had been beautiful, crystal clear blue skies, but now the debris had completely blotted out the sun.”

Payphone found, she once again called into the office to give a report. As she stood there with her clothes covered in dust, she had a horrifying realisation.

“I looked up at the stuff falling. I thought, ‘My God. I’m covered in dead people’.”

But she didn’t have long to contemplate this thought. A policeman came running down the road yelling at people to get inside – the second tower was about the fall.

After the second tower fell, Ms Sabga got through to CNN to give her report – which can now be found on YouTube or on our website.

• Where were you when you heard the news about the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? Tell us at the bottom of this article.