When American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower ( 1 WTC ) at 8:46 AM EDT , its landing gear fell on the hotel 's roof . Firefighters used the lobby as a staging area , and were also in the hotel to evacuate guests that may have still been inside . Firefighters also reported human remains of entire corpses on the roof from people that had jumped or accidentally fell from the burning towers . The collapse of the South Tower ( 2 WTC ) at 9:59 AM EDT split the building in half ( such damage can briefly be seen in the documentary film '' 9/11 '' ) , and the collapse of the North Tower at 10:28 AM EDT destroyed the rest of the hotel aside from a small section ( as seen on the picture ) that was furthest from the North Tower . Fourteen people who had been trying to evacuate the partially destroyed hotel after the first collapse managed to survive the second collapse in this small section . The section of the hotel that had managed to survive the collapse of the Twin Towers had been upgraded after the 1993 bombing
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11
Marriott World Trade Center