Adelaide radiologist lived through events which inspired award-winning 9/11 musical

An Adelaide woman shares the moment she heard news of the unfolding 9/11 terrorist attack on her walkman and told cabin crew why they had been grounded in a tiny Canadian town.

Canadian hit musical Come From Away, which tells how a small community reached out to help strangers in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, has very personal significance for Adelaide radiologist Mary Moss.

Dr Moss was one of 6600 passengers and crew stranded in Gander, Newfoundland, in 2001 when 38 planes were diverted and forced to land there after hijacked flights crashed into the World Trade Centre and Pentagon buildings.

Adelaide radiologist Mary Moss, right, with actors from the musical Come From Away, Canadians David Silvestre and Kyle Brown, and Australian performer Zoe Gertz, at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Picture: Morgan Sette

Raised and educated in Adelaide, New Zealand-born Dr Moss was on a flight from Manchester in the UK, where she was attending a wedding, to New York for a conference when her plane was diverted to Gander, which only had a population of 10,000.

“I don’t think we were actually given a reason at the time,” she said.

“We were one of the earlier flights to land – out of the 38, we were within the first cluster.”

After landing, it was Dr Moss, now 51, who informed the cabin crew and other passengers about the terrorist attacks.

“I had my Sony Walkman … the one with the little radio on top. I heard that basically any plane that wasn’t landed was going to get shot down,” she said.

That was when they also became aware of the attacks on the Twin Towers.

“In the end, you think you are safe because you are on the ground, and really we were one of the lucky ones. Then it was a matter of sitting there on the tarmac for six to eight hours, waiting.”

Stranded plane and passengers from the last of 38 flights to land in Gander, Canada, after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Picture: Supplied

Dr Moss, who now works for Jones Radiology, had moved to Sydney earlier in 2001 and lived there for six years, before returning to SA with her family and settling at Grange.

She was in Gander for five days, and passengers from her flight were taken on school buses to a nearby air force base, where they slept on army cots in a basketball court.

Passengers who arrived on later flights were, in many cases, billeted to and cared for by the local residents, whose experiences are also told in Come From Away, which runs at Her Majesty’s Theatre from Wednesday until April 29.

The cast features two Canadian actors, Kyle Brown and David Silvestre, who are both from Toronto but recall the events of 2001.

“I remember the events … but I did not know the story of what happened in Gander,” Mr Brown, 34, said.

“It’s an awesome story to tell, and it gives me a sense of pride. It does make me feel happy to be able to share this story of kindness and love and community.”

Dr Moss, who will attend the show for the first time on Friday and plans to go again later in the season, recalls walking from the air force base into Gander with fellow passengers when a truck driver stopped and offered them a lift.

“Then he nicely offered to give us a guided tour of Gander … which consisted of going to a crash site where, in 1985, an Arrow jet crashed and everyone died and there was a big memorial.

“It was very sweet, and I think they meant well … but it was probably not appropriate at that time,” she laughed.

We’re giving 15 lucky Advertiser digital subscribers the chance to win a double pass to Come From Away.

Entrants must be aged 18 or older, a resident of South Australia and an active digital subscriber to Advertiser.com.au.

To enter, click here.