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What happened on September 11, 2001? | 9/11 attacks

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On Tuesday 11 September 2001 suicide attackers seized US passenger jets and crashed them into two New York skyscrapers, killing thousands of people.

The attack remains one of the most traumatic events of the century, not only for Americans but also for the world.

What were the targets?

Four planes flying over the eastern US were seized simultaneously by small teams of hijackers.

They were then used as giant, guided missiles to crash into landmark buildings in New York and Washington.

Two planes struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

The first hit the North Tower at 08:46 Eastern Time (12:46 GMT). The second crashed into the South Tower at 09:03.

The buildings were set on fire, trapping people on the upper floors, and wreathing the city in smoke. In less than two hours, both 110-storey towers collapsed in massive clouds of dust.

At 09:37 the third plane destroyed the western face of the Pentagon - the giant headquarters of the US military just outside the nation's capital, Washington DC.

The fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania at 10:03 after passengers fought back. It is thought the hijackers had meant to attack the Capitol Building in Washington DC.

How many people died?

In all, 2,977 people (not counting the 19 hijackers) lost their lives, most of them in New York.

All 246 passengers and crew aboard the four planes were killed

At the Twin Towers, 2,606 people died - then or later of injuries

At the Pentagon, 125 people were killed

The youngest victim was two-year-old Christine Lee Hanson, who died on one of the planes with her parents Peter and Sue.

The oldest was 82-year-old Robert Norton, who was on another plane with his wife Jacqueline, en route to a wedding.

When the first plane struck, an estimated 17,400 people were in the towers. Nobody survived above the impact zone in the North Tower, but 18 managed to escape from the floors above the impact zone in the South Tower.

Citizens of 77 different countries were among the casualties. New York City lost 441 first responders.

Thousands of people were injured or later developed illnesses connected to the attacks, including firefighters who had worked in toxic debris.

Who were the attackers?

An Islamist extremist network called al-Qaeda planned the attacks from Afghanistan.

Led by Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda blamed the US and its allies for conflicts in the Muslim world.

Nineteen people carried out the hijackings, working in three teams of five and one of four (on the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania).

Each group included someone who had received pilot training. This was carried out at flying schools in the US itself.

Fifteen hijackers were Saudis like Bin Laden himself. Two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt and one was from Lebanon.

How did the US respond?

Less than a month after the attacks, President George W Bush led an invasion of Afghanistan - supported by an international coalition - to eradicate al-Qaeda and hunt down Bin Laden.

However, it was not until 2011 that US troops finally located and killed Bin Laden in neighbouring Pakistan.

The alleged planner of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, was arrested in Pakistan in 2003. He has been held in US custody at Guantanamo Bay since then, and is still awaiting trial.

Al-Qaeda still exists. It is strongest in Sub-Saharan Africa but even now has members inside Afghanistan.

US troops left Afghanistan this year after nearly 20 years, stoking fears from many that the Islamist network could make a comeback.

The legacy of 9/11

Flight safety was tightened around the world in the years following 9/11.

In the US, the Transportation Security Administration was created to beef up security at airports and on planes.

It took more than eight months to clean up "Ground Zero" - the site of the fallen Twin Towers.

A memorial and a museum now stands on the site, and buildings have risen up again, to a different design.

The completed centrepiece - One World Trade Center, or "Freedom Tower" - stands even higher (1,776ft (541m) than the original North Tower, which was 1,368ft.

Reconstruction at the Pentagon took just under a year, with staff back in their offices by August 2002.

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September 11 attacks: What happened on 9/11?

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How the devastating 2001 plane attacks on America unfolded and how they shaped our age.

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9/11 survivor shares story of escaping the World Trade Center South Tower after terrorist attack

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Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on September 11, 2001, after al Qaeda hijackers flew airplanes into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York. More than 6,000 were injured. Tens of thousands of people typically worked in the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, and most were able to escape. While all who endured that terrible day can be considered brave, there are some who went above and beyond in trying to save lives, and ultimately prevented the tragedy from becoming even worse.

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this is maui the fire first started with a little smoke but then the wind was so strong the smoke became stronger and bigger:(

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Learn about the typical responsibilities of a firefighter and opportunities to advance in this field.

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i read about....

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the qaeda hijackers flew a plane and crashed it

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On Tuesday 11 September 2001 suicide attackers seized US passenger jets and crashed them into two New York skyscrapers, killing thousands of people.

The attack remains one of the most traumatic events of the century, not only for Americans but also for the world.

What were the targets?

Four planes flying over the eastern US were seized simultaneously by small teams of hijackers.

They were then used as giant, guided missiles to crash into landmark buildings in New York and Washington.

Two planes struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

The first hit the North Tower at 08:46 Eastern Time (12:46 GMT). The second crashed into the South Tower at 09:03.

The buildings were set on fire, trapping people on the upper floors, and wreathing the city in smoke. In less than two hours, both 110-storey towers collapsed in massive clouds of dust.

At 09:37 the third plane destroyed the western face of the Pentagon - the giant headquarters of the US military just outside the nation's capital, Washington DC.

The fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania at 10:03 after passengers fought back. It is thought the hijackers had meant to attack the Capitol Building in Washington DC.

How many people died?

In all, 2,977 people (not counting the 19 hijackers) lost their lives, most of them in New York.

All 246 passengers and crew aboard the four planes were killed

At the Twin Towers, 2,606 people died - then or later of injuries

At the Pentagon, 125 people were killed

The youngest victim was two-year-old Christine Lee Hanson, who died on one of the planes with her parents Peter and Sue.

The oldest was 82-year-old Robert Norton, who was on another plane with his wife Jacqueline, en route to a wedding.

When the first plane struck, an estimated 17,400 people were in the towers. Nobody survived above the impact zone in the North Tower, but 18 managed to escape from the floors above the impact zone in the South Tower.

Citizens of 77 different countries were among the casualties. New York City lost 441 first responders.

Thousands of people were injured or later developed illnesses connected to the attacks, including firefighters who had worked in toxic debris.

Who were the attackers?

An Islamist extremist network called al-Qaeda planned the attacks from Afghanistan.

Led by Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda blamed the US and its allies for conflicts in the Muslim world.

Nineteen people carried out the hijackings, working in three teams of five and one of four (on the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania).

Each group included someone who had received pilot training. This was carried out at flying schools in the US itself.

Fifteen hijackers were Saudis like Bin Laden himself. Two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt and one was from Lebanon.

How did the US respond?

Less than a month after the attacks, President George W Bush led an invasion of Afghanistan - supported by an international coalition - to eradicate al-Qaeda and hunt down Bin Laden.

However, it was not until 2011 that US troops finally located and killed Bin Laden in neighbouring Pakistan.

The alleged planner of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, was arrested in Pakistan in 2003. He has been held in US custody at Guantanamo Bay since then, and is still awaiting trial.

Al-Qaeda still exists. It is strongest in Sub-Saharan Africa but even now has members inside Afghanistan.

US troops left Afghanistan this year after nearly 20 years, stoking fears from many that the Islamist network could make a comeback.

The legacy of 9/11

Flight safety was tightened around the world in the years following 9/11.

In the US, the Transportation Security Administration was created to beef up security at airports and on planes.

It took more than eight months to clean up "Ground Zero" - the site of the fallen Twin Towers.

A memorial and a museum now stands on the site, and buildings have risen up again, to a different design.

The completed centrepiece - One World Trade Center, or "Freedom Tower" - stands even higher (1,776ft (541m) than the original North Tower, which was 1,368ft.

Reconstruction at the Pentagon took just under a year, with staff back in their offices by August 2002.

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September 11 attacks: What happened on 9/11?

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How the devastating 2001 plane attacks on America unfolded and how they shaped our age.

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Security video of plane hitting Pentagon released, adds, S'bite from Judicial Watch

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World Trade Center: A Dream Is Born

The 1939 New York World's Fair included an exhibit called the World Trade Center that was dedicated to the concept of "world peace through trade." Seven years later, one of the exhibit's organizers, Winthrop W. Aldrich, headed a new state agency with the proposed goal of creating a permanent trade exposition based in New York. Market research indicated that the city would benefit more by modernizing its ports, however, and the plan was soon scrapped.

Did you know? More than 10,000 workers were involved in building the World Trade Center complex.

Aldrich's nephew, David Rockefeller, didn't forget the idea. The grandson of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller, David decided to revive the World Trade Center concept as the core of a revitalized lower Manhattan. In May 1959, Rockefeller formed the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association, which planned a $250 million complex near the Fulton Fish Market on the East River, including a single 70-story office tower and several smaller buildings.

The Port Authority Signs On

For the resources and power to make the project work, Rockefeller turned to the Port of New York Authority. The Port Authority had been chartered in 1921 by New York and New Jersey to build and operate all transportation terminals and facilities within a 25-mile radius of the Statue of Liberty.

By 1960, after constructing the Lincoln Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge, the Port Authority was rapidly expanding its influence, with 5,000 employees and more than $1 billion in freight and transportation structures all presided over by its powerful director, Austin J. Tobin.

The Port Authority had just agreed to take over and renovate New Jersey 's Hudson and Manhattan commuter railroad, the PATH (Port Authority Trans Hudson) train, built in 1908. The PATH terminal was on the west side of Lower Manhattan, and Tobin's team decided to move the prospective trade center location from east to west, combining the two projects.

A region bounded by Vesey, Church, Liberty and West Streets-known as "Radio Row" for its many consumer electronics shops-would have to be razed for the trade center to be built. After a bitter legal battle with representatives of the Radio Row merchants, the Port Authority won the right to continue its plan.

Sights Set on Record-Breaking Height

By this time, the Port Authority had decided that the trade center should replace the 1,250-foot-high Empire State Building, built in 1931, as the world's tallest building. To fulfill the Port Authority's requirement, architect Minoru Yamasaki designed two towers of 110 stories each.

Instead of the traditional stacked glass-and-steel box construction of many New York skyscrapers, Yamasaki worked with structural engineers to come up with a revolutionary design: two hollow tubes, supported by closely spaced steel columns encased in aluminum. Floor trusses connected this exterior steel lattice to the central steel core of the building. In this way, the "skin" of the building would be strong enough that internal columns wouldn't be necessary to hold it together.

Construction began in February 1967, after the Port Authority faced down criticism about the towers' safety and viability from many powerful figures, including real estate tycoon (and Empire State Building owner) Lawrence Wien. Wien even ran an ad in the New York Times in May 1968 predicting that a commercial airliner was likely to fly into the towers.

Plans had already been made to guard against such an accident-which had happened in July 1945 with a smaller plane at the Empire State-and the towers were designed to be safe in a collision with a fully loaded 707 plane (the largest existing plane at the time). It was assumed such a plane would have to be lost in fog for such an event to occur; a terrorist attack was never envisioned.

Feats of Engineering at the World Trade Center

Because the ground in lower Manhattan was largely landfill, engineers would have to dig down 70 feet to reach bedrock. Excavating machines dug a three-foot-wide trench down to the bedrock, and as dirt and rock were removed, they were replaced by slurry: a mixture of water and bentonite, a type of clay that expands when wet to plug any hole along the side of the trench. Workers then lowered a 22-ton, seven-story-high steel cage into the trench and filled it with concrete by using a long pipe. As the concrete flowed in, it displaced the bentonite slurry.

By making more than 150 of these slurry trench segments, workers enclosed an area two blocks wide and four blocks long. Called the "bathtub," it was used to seal the basements of the towers and keep water from the Hudson River out of the foundation.

All in all, one million cubic yards of landfill had to be removed. The Port Authority used this landfill to create the $90 million worth of land that would become Battery Park City. To piece the steel frame of the building together, engineers brought in Australian-made "kangaroo" cranes, self-powered cranes powered by diesel motors that could hoist themselves up as the building grew higher.

At the end of construction, these cranes had to be disassembled and brought down by elevator. When the towers were finished, each one would have 97 passenger elevators, capable of carrying loads of up to 10,000 pounds at speeds of up to 1,600 feet per minute. In all, the towers were assembled from more than 200,000 pieces of steel manufactured around the country, 3,000 miles of electrical wiring, 425,000 cubic yards of concrete, 40,000 doors, 43,600 windows and six acres of marble.

World Trade Center: A Dream Come True

The last piece of steel was put in place on the north tower (One World Trade Center) on December 23, 1970; the south tower (Two World Trade Center) was topped off in July of the next year. Construction went on until April 1973, when the five-acre outdoor plaza, dominated by a 25-foot-tall bronze sculpture by Fritz Koenig, was completed. At the official ribbon cutting ceremony on April 4, Governor Nelson Rockefeller (David's brother) proclaimed triumphantly, "It's not too often that we see a dream come true. Today, we have."

At 1,360 feet, the World Trade Center towers were the tallest buildings in the world for less than a year; they were soon surpassed by Chicago's Sears Tower. Still, the towers held an incomparable mystique. They inspired incredible stunts, beginning in August 1974, when Philippe Petit walked a high wire between the two towers.

In May 1977, George Willig earned himself the nickname of "the Human Fly" by hoisting himself to the top of the south tower using homemade climbing devices. The Port Authority loved these stunts because they endeared the towers to the public and made them seem like giant toys. They worked at turning the towers into an attraction, adding the Windows on the World restaurant, which opened on the 107th floor of the north tower in April 1976 and was an immediate hit.

By 1983, World Trade Center revenues had jumped to $204 million, and space was in high demand. Smaller importers-exporters were now being pushed out by rising rents, making way for major businesses.

1993 Bombing of the World Trade Center

The first major test of the trade center's structural integrity came on February 26, 1993, when a bomb with the destructive power equal to 2,200 pounds of TNT exploded in the parking garage of the second floor basement of the north tower. The blast killed six people, injured more than 1,000 others and caused an estimated $600 million in damage. Six Islamic extremists were tried and convicted in connection with the plot.

The towers reopened 20 days after the bombing with new security measures in place, including restrictions to parking lot access and electronic identification badges for building tenants. Over the next eight years, the Port Authority spent a total of $700 million on renovations, with safety upgrades like battery-powered stairway lights and a separate emergency command center in each building. Mayor Rudy Giuliani set up a high-tech emergency operations command center, dubbed "the Bunker," at 7 World Trade Center, a 47-story office building adjoining the towers.

The World Trade Center on September 11th

In July 2001, just two months before the terrorist attacks of September 11, the Port Authority agreed to lease the twin towers to Larry Silverstein, a New York City developer. Silverstein agreed to pay the equivalent of $3.2 billion over the next 99 years. At the time, over 99 percent of the 10.4 million square feet controlled by the Port Authority was occupied.

The impact of the two planes that hit the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, was more devastating than any of the building's designers and engineers had ever imagined. The first plane ripped a hole in the north tower from the 94th to the 98th floors, causing massive structural damage and igniting some 3,000 of the 10,000 gallons of jet fuel the plane was carrying. The second plane hit the south tower at an even faster speed, striking the corner and gashing the building from the 84th to the 78th floors.

The heroic efforts of the city's fire and police departments and other emergency services helped 25,000 people escape from the site on 9/11 before the unthinkable occurred. The damage done at each point of impact forced the physical weight of the towers to be redistributed, and the undamaged part below the hole had to support the floors above. At the same time, the fires raging in both buildings weakened the steel trusses holding up each floor. With damage to a greater number of floors lower down on the building, the south tower gave way first, crumbling to the ground at 9:59 a.m., only 56 minutes after being hit. The north tower collapsed less than a half hour later, at 10:28 a.m.

Debris from the falling towers ignited fires in the remaining buildings of the trade center complex, including 7 World Trade, which burned for most of the day before collapsing at 5:20 p.m. Overwhelmed by horror, shock and grief, New Yorkers and people around the world trained their eyes on " Ground Zero," where the fall of a treasured icon of American industry and ingenuity had left a gaping hole in the sky.

One World Trade Center

That hole in the sky would eventually be filled by One World Trade Center, or "The Freedom Tower," which rises even higher than the Twin Towers it was built to honor. At a symbolic 1,776 feet tall, One World Trade is the tallest building in the United States and Western Hemisphere, overtaking Sears Tower in Chicago. Built on the original 6 World Trade Center, it was originally designed by architect Daniel Libeskind to be an asymmetrical tower inspired by the Statue of Liberty.

In 2004, architect David Childs, known for designing both the Burj Khalifa and the Willis Tower, took over. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 2004, but the building did not open until November 3, 2014. Architecture critic Kurt Andersen wrote, "The fact that it's taken more than a decade to finish, I think -the gradualism-makes that sense of emblematic rebirth more acute and irresistible."

One World Trade is 104 stories tall and has three million square feet of office space topped off by One World Observatory, an observation deck, bar, and restaurant open to the pubic. It spans from floors 100-102 and offers visitors panoramic views of New York City.

Rebuilding the World Trade Center

A new tower at 7 World Trade Center opened in 2006. The $2 billion 4 World Trade Center followed in 2013. The World Trade Center Oculus, a glass and steel transit concourse and shopping center designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, opened to the public in 2016, while the 1,155 foot tall 3 World Trade Center opened in 2018. Silverstein's 2 World Trade Center and 5 World Trade Center remain incomplete.

The rebuilt 16-acre World Trade Center site also includes the National 9/11 Memorial designed by Michael Arad. His design, "Reflecting Absence," includes two reflecting pools in the footprints of the former Twin Towers surrounded by bronze panels with the names of all 2,983 victims of the 1993 and 2001 World Trade Center attacks.

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World Trade Center - Development, 9/11 Attacks & Rebuilding

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The iconic twin towers of downtown Manhattan's World Trade Center were a triumph of human imagination and will. The attacks on the towers on 9/11 destroyed lives and radically altered the skyline of New York City, destroying the twin columns of glass and steel that over the years had come to embody the city itself.

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What happened on September 11, 2001? | 9/11 attacks

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I read about....

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I read about....

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Read the inspiring stories of people who heard the call of duty and went above and beyond to help save lives.

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I was one of the last people to see Police Officer Moira Smith before she perished in the collapse of the World Trade Center. I remember her very vividly because my experience was personal, intense, and unique. This is to document what she was doing in those final minutes.

I have to background this story by saying that my wife has been a flight attendant for a major US Airline for over twenty years. During that time, she has received extensive training in emergency evacuation procedures. I have seen her practice the drill for evacuating passengers from a fiery aircraft on many occasions. I always felt that she was very sincere about executing her responsibility in such a situation. Her rehearsals includeded details that would never occur to the average person. For example, she was trained to touch a door with the back of her hand before opening it. If the door was so hot that it burned her hand, she would still be able to use the front of her hand to hold a rope should that be necessary. The dedication and intensity with which she executed these exercises left me no doubt about her intention to perform in an emergency situation.

On 9/11, I entered 2 WTC moments before the first tower was struck. I took the express elevator to the 78th floor sky lobby and everything appeared normal. I entered the local elevator and pressed 84. The elevator stopped on the 82nd floor and a young man leapt into the car just as the door was closing. He was screaming, "Terrorists, go down" I asked him what he had seen, but he was in such a state of shock he couldn't communicate. He was crouched in the corner and kept saying, "Fire! Fire"

The elevator continued up to my floor but I didn't get out. I kept trying to find out what the young man had seen. When we got back down to the sky lobby, the scene has changed completely. The floor was packed, and people were lined up ten deep in front of the express elevators to go back down. We weren't sure if the elevators were going to be running, so many of us started down the stairs.

At first, it was a slow march. There were people streaming into the descending crowd on every floor. However, when we had gone down about ten floors, the flow of people joining us stopped. I though that perhaps the situation had clarified, and I decided to view the scene for myself.

The first reentry door was on the sixtieth floor. I asked a fellow who was walking around locking up offices where I could go to see the North Tower. He pointed down a hallway and said, "It's that way, but don't look. It's too horrible!"

I went anyway. When I got to the window, I looked up and saw the flames shooting out of the top floors. I looked down and saw three distinct large pools of blood. I reckon the largest was thirty yards across. The bodies were mixed in with the wreckage and I could make out several legs sticking out of the debris. I looked back up just to see a man in a white shirt jumping from a top floor. I saw his face clearly. My eyes followed him down till the ground came into focus, then I looked away.

My reaction was very physical and intense. My stomach turned, my knees became wobbly, and my eyes saw black. I almost passed out.

I thought that by exiting the building under these circumstances I would add to the confusion and impede the rescue workers. I decided to sit down and wait for the emergency to get under control. I had been sitting for about 15 minutes, when the second plane hit our building. We knew something enormous had happened because the building shook and the temperature rose by ten degrees in an instant.

There were about ten of us who had been sitting around in the reception area on that floor. We all got up quickly and hurried down the steps. The staircase was open now and we were moving quite fast.

After we had gone down several floors, we came to a cripple woman lying on a landing between floors. Her walking cane was by her side and she was looking at the people hurrying by. She was yelling, "I'm going to die. I'm going to die." I felt a pang of guilt as I continued past her with the rest of the crowd. My mind flashed images of my wife alone in the bed and my sons without a father. Nothing else mattered, I had to get out.

When we got down to about the fifth floor, we caught up with the tail end of the main crowd. The trek down the steps became a slow march again. I looked back to see who was behind us. There I saw an Oriental fellow carrying the crippled woman on his back.

I didn't fault myself for being a coward. Rather, I admired him for being calm and composed in this emergency situation. I thought, I could have done that too - or at least I could have helped out - but I'm not thinking I'm panicked". As we stood there in the dimly lit staircase, I was thinking about the carnage I would witness when we came out into the plaza lobby. I was trying to brace myself. To be prepared for the worst.

We exited the stairwell to a ramp which led toward the main plaza. A slow moving line progressed along the ramp to a down escalator which connected to the underground passageway being used to exit the compound. Moira stood at the end of the ramp directing the traffic down the escalator. She had her flashlight in her right hand and she was waving it like a baton. She was repeating over and over- "Don't look! Keep Moving."

I immediately had the sensation that I knew what had happened there before. I thought: groups of people had come through here and stopped to look at the horror of the situation. There mass hysteria and the exit paths were blocked. She broke it up and got things moving again. Now she's making sure it doesn't happen again.

It was a very intense personal experience for me. It was like I was in a scene that I had witnessed before only this time - instead of my wife rescuing strangers - it was me being rescued by Moira.

I came to the end of the ramp and I was standing squarely in front of Moira, I leaned to the left to try look past her to see the plaza. She quickly matched my motion and blocked my vision saying "don't look." Our eyes made direct contact. My eyes said to her, "I know how bad it is and I understand what you're doing." Her face was full of pain and her eyes said to me, "In this horrific situation, this is the best and only thing I can do.

The mass of people exiting the building felt the calm assurance that they were being directed by someone in authority who was in control of the situation. Her actions even seemed ordinary, even commonplace. She insulated the evacuees from the awareness of the dangerous situation they were in, with the result that everything preceded smoothly.

In my company - sixty one people perished - one hundred eighty survived. Afterwards, I asked several of my fellow employees if they had noticed the woman police officer at the escalator landing. They said, "Yeah - she was directing traffic."

A statue of Moira holding her flashlight while evacuating the building - would be an excellent way to pay tribute to the heroism of the NYPD on 9/11. As a work of art, it would work on many levels.

It commemorates the Supreme Sacrifice in an understated way that will encourage viewers to look twice.

It will have special meaning for women. Moira's job on 9/11 was without heraldry, yet she may have been responsible for saving more lives than anyone else.

Directing traffic is an everyday event in the life of a police officer. While Moira's heroic action was compressed into a few short hours, there is a direct parallel with the Covid-19 Essential Workers. In both instances, they performed commonplace actions in the face of personal danger. The statue will resonate with healthcare workers, the uniformed services and supermarket checkout clerks.

Thank you for reading this account. It was written by me - Martin Glynn. I can be contacted at:

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I was one of the last people to see Police Officer Moira Smith before she perished in the collapse of the World Trade Center. I remember her very vividly because my experience was personal, intense, and unique. This is to document what she was doing in those final minutes.