Keeping calm as they carry on dining

Michael Shum and Carine Chow

Some diners refused to be daunted by the fire raging on the first floor of the World Trade Center and continued to enjoy their buffet spread, staying in their seats to tuck in. Others calmly put food on their plates even as black smoke seeped into the room.

Staff in another restaurant on the 12th floor remained calm and finished checking customers' bills first.

In the 45-second video in the buffet restaurant, the scene was filled with dozens of diners, with some appearing unaffected by the fire as they continue piling food onto plates.

Others looked around and appeared to be looking for directions as to what to do.

A female restaurant employee is heard saying: "Have you guys packed all your belongings? I have no clue what the next step is, but the most important thing is to bring along all your valuable items."

Lights went off after about 10 seconds, with footage taken in the dark showing diners starting to gather their belongings while staff help customers to evacuate.

A man's voice is heard in the footage saying he had inspected the emergency exit only to find it was filled with smoke, while the man doing the filming replied he had been told of a blackout, adding he would look for another exit.

He later made a Facebook group posting to say that he was safe, adding that there was smoke but no fire in the emergency exit that he took.

The video went viral, with people amazed by how calm some diners were. "The entire restaurant is filled with smoke, yet some people can still scoop up food like nothing is happening," one wrote.

Another said: "They don't care if their lives are at stake as all they are thinking is that they had paid for the buffet so they cannot let that money go to waste."

But some people online criticized the reaction of restaurant staff, with one saying: "Where are the managers? Like nobody was telling the diners what was going on."

At the Chinese restaurant on the 12th floor, smoke seeped from a lift into the eatery, choking many diners, some of whom complained that staff asked them to pay for their meals first before they could run for their lives.

A diner, Lai, said most of them panicked when they saw the smoke and were unsure if they should continue eating.

She said waiters ignored the smoke and continued serving food.

"Staff members were very calm. It was the customers who thought something was wrong and some immediately paid their bills and left," Lai said.

"Soon after, I started to smell burnt plastic, and I sense something was not right. Waiters then told me that they had already reported to the police, but the fire alarm had not gone off by that time."

Diners then quickly checked their bills and prepared for evacuation. Lai followed others to the emergency exit, but their way to the ground floor was made fraught by the smoke before they manage to get onto an open-air podium on the fifth floor.

"The open-air podium was quite small, we were stuffed on it with around 80 other people waiting for rescue," said Lai.

"Most remained calm and followed firemen's instructions. I waited for over an hour before I was evacuated from the building by extendable ladder."

She added: "The shopping complex has been under renovation for some time and this might have lowered staff's crisis awareness.

"At first, I also thought it was the smell from welding downstairs and did not pay much attention."