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History of 9/11

Story by Ava Steil

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 started out as any normal day. The citizens of the United States began the morning as any other, unaware of the tragic events about to unfold.

Nineteen Islamic extremists, belonging to the group Al-Qaeda, carried out a series of terrorist attacks on American soil. Four airplanes were hijacked and used in their suicide missions.

At exactly 8:46 a.m., American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Carrying 20,000 gallons of fuel, the explosion created an enormous hole on the 80th floor. With 30 floors of office buildings above, hundreds were instantly killed and trapped in the flaming steel coffin.

Instantly, both the south and north towers began their evacuation. Televisions were flooded with live accounts of what was initially believed to be a freak accident. First responders arrived on the scene and quickly began to rescue as many people as they could.

Eighteen minutes later, it became devastatingly clear that this was no accident. At 9:03 a.m., United Airlines flight 175 struck the evacuating south tower on the 60th floor. Debris from the collisions fell and covered the buildings and nearby streets.

At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the west side of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing the 64 passengers on board. The jet fuel inside of the plane created a large inferno that caused the portion of the Pentagon that held the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense to collapse, which killed 125 civilians and military personnel..

Fifteen minutes later, at 9:59 a.m., the south tower collapsed.

Meanwhile, United Flight 93 was hijacked 40 minutes before leaving New Jersey to California, while the tragedy in New York and D.C. unfolded. Due to the plane being delayed, the passengers learned of the attacks. The four hijackers claimed that the plane would once again return to the airport but the passengers and flight attendants knew they were lying.

Several passengers and attendants developed a plan to retake the plane. It is suspected that a fire extinguisher was used to fight off the hijackers in the cockpit. This caused the plane to flip over and speed up to 500 miles per hour towards the ground. Flight 93 crashed at 10:03 a.m. in a rural field near Shanksville in western Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people onboard.

While the target of the fourth plane is still unknown, there are several theories of where it was aimed. People suspect the hijackers were heading towards the White House, the Camp David presidential retreat located in Maryland, the U.S. Capitol, or one of the several nuclear power plants on the eastern coast.

And then at 10:28 am, the north tower collapsed as well. The city was enveloped in a cloud of dust and smoke as the symbols of economic strength and power were destroyed.

These buildings were built with structural steel strong enough to withstand a large office fire as well as winds up to 200 miles per hour. However, the metal could not hold up against the incredible heat created by the burning jet fuel of the planes.

While 6,000 people were treated for injuries after the collapse of the towers, only 20 people were able to be rescued from the rubble of the World Trade Center. That day remains the deadliest day in history for the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) with 343 firefighters being killed at the site.

When all this horror had subsided, thousands of people had been killed. While trying to evacuate the twin towers, 23 New York Police Department officers and 37 Port Authority officers died along with 343 firefighters. In total, 2,360 citizens were killed at the World Trade Center. 64 people were killed on Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, killing a total of 189 people.

By the end of the day, 2,977 people were killed in the attacks.

Credits:

Created with images by Foundry - "memorial nyc new york world trade center"

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