Survivor believes she got a second chance

August 5, 1995

From Correspondent Gary Tuchman

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (CNN) -- Clutching a teddy bear, Priscilla Salyers hugs her sister, horrified at what might have been. She is one of the lucky ones, one of those who was in the Murrah federal building when it exploded -- and lived to tell the tale.

"At that moment, everything just went black," Salyers recalled. "It was like somebody had turned the lights out. It wasn't a falling sensation...I saw white flashes, like when you see stars."

Salyers fell from the U.S. Customs office on the fifth floor all the way to the first floor. She was buried under tons of rubble, only her left hand was free. "I lay there and tried to breathe slow. I made sure I had an air pocket. I pulled rocks out from under me. I wanted to be sure I had air coming to me."

Rescuers immediately got to the scene and started pulling out the wounded. The 44 year-old Salyers said she heard someone say, 'We have a live one.' "It sounded like this (the voice) was far away, " she said. "But the next thing I know they took my hand."

But her joy was short-lived; moments away from being extricated, rescuers, who had just been told another bomb might be in the building, were forced to abandon efforts. Not wanting to frighten Salyers, the rescuers didn't tell her the reason for their leaving. "I begged him (the rescuer) not to (leave)," remembered Salyers. " And he said, 'We have to get a tool.' And I begged him once more. Then his voice cracked, and he said, 'I'm sorry.'"

Hours went by before Priscilla once more heard voices coming her way. "I don't know how they got me out but I was lying on my back. I had my eyes open. I saw face after face, every one of them was a beautiful sight."

Priscilla was rushed to intensive care with a punctured lung and broken ribs. She came home this week, a home where one wall is covered with autographed pictures of her rescuers.

She was the only survivor among those at work at U.S. Customs that day. "My two coworkers...they didn't make it."

Paul Ice's body was found Thursday night. Claude Medearis is still unaccounted for.

Priscilla, in her sorrow, believes she has been given a second chance. "I know there's a whole new world for me and I want to make the best of it."

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Survivor believes she got a second chance

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