9/11: 'Co-workers' safety was more important to her than life'

The last glimpse of Goumatie Thackurdeen, a victim of the 9/11 attacks, as she rushed to board a train still haunts her brother. Ritu Jha reports

The last time Raj Thackurdeen saw his sister Goumatie she was wearing her blue suit, holding her briefcase and laptop and running towards Aqueduct station, South Ozone Park, Queens.

Raj: I was driving by to drop my son to school in Brooklyn. It was around 5.40 am. She was very dedicated to her work and would always reach Manhattan before 7 am. Every day that last image of her comes to my mind. I wish I had asked her to stop for a cup of coffee before she boarded the train.

Goumatie, a network engineer, was on her way to the World Trade Center, where she worked as vice president at the Fiduciary Trust, on the 97th floor of the South Tower.

Raj: One day she told our mother 'We are set for life now. You don't have to worry any more. We have all that we need.' She was earning a six-figure salary. She was very happy with life. Unfortunately, she didn't get the time to enjoy her life and her title. She had become vice president just a year-and-a-half before 9/11.

It's been 10 years, but his memories of his sister are still afresh.

Raj: We are three brothers and three sisters (the Thackurdeens hail from Trinidad and Tobago and are of Indian extraction). Goumatie was the baby. She was a religious person and liked to party. She had a havan when she bought her house in Queens. She was fond of Indian gods and goddesses. She always had a puja on her birthday and a cocktail party the next day. She was very health conscious and loved to bake along with her nieces and read to them.

Goumatie, Girly to friends, was at once a successful career woman, a globe-trotter and an adored aunt to her many nieces and nephews. To the younger ones, she was the aunt who took them to the park or the zoo. For the older ones, she was a confidante and a role model.

Always up for socialising she was known to often invite her huge family and several friends over for dinners to the home she shared with her mother. The family was surprised when some of her co-workers called and said that she would often tell them to take a day off from work and spend time with their kids.

Raj remembers her as a dedicated worker and a caring human being, who paid the price for these very traits September 11.

Raj: It was her responsibility to ensure that the staff and files were safe. She was busy transferring files for back-up to the California office and acting as a fire warden, helping people leave the office area. If you hear stories from the survivors it's alarming. It was chaotic. But for Goumatie her duty as a vice president and the safety of her colleagues was more important to her than her life.

She called our mother from her office after the first building was attacked. Mother asked her to leave. But she asked her not to worry. She said everything was okay and they are sending people up, and said she would call back later. She never did. We never got her body.

Goumatie's mother, who passed away in 2008, immersed her ashes in the Atlantic. Every September 11 the family offers flowers in her name in the Hudson.

Raj: She was a hero. Whoever was in the building was a real hero. The only thing that bothers me is that the company she was working for had a backup office in California. The company asked her to send the backup out there. She was doing that until this happened. One of her colleagues asked her to come to the elevator and she said 'No go ahead,' and that was the last elevator.

So many people saw her in the building before it fell. She was the last of the staff to leave. I wish the company had not requested back-up.