Planes crash into World Trade Center, Pentagon
Both towers, part of Pentagon collapse
By Jerry Schwartz and Ron Fournier
The Associated Press
Published September 11, 2001, 10:17 AM CDT
In a horrific sequence of destruction, terrorists
crashed two planes into the World Trade Center and
the twin 110-story towers collapsed this morning.
Explosions also rocked the Pentagon and the State
Department and spread fear across the nation.
The Pentagon was struck by aircraft, a car bomb
exploded outside the State Department and agents
patrolled outside the White House with automatic
weapons today as an apparent coordinated terrorist
attack spread fear and chaos in the nation's capital.
The enduring symbols of American power were
evacuated, the Capitol, White House and more shut
down, and the nation's air traffic system ordered shut
down. Billows of smoke drifted from the Pentagon
over the Potomac River toward the capital.
The fate of those in the twin skyscrapers is not
known. Authorities had been trying to evacuate the
50,000 people who work in the twin towers, but many
are thought to be trapped.
President Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to
"hunt down the folks who committed this act."
Within the hour, an aircraft crashed on a helicopter
landing pad near the Pentagon, and the White House,
the Pentagon and the Capitol were evacuated.
In Pennsylvania, a large plane, believed to be a
Boeing 747, crashed about 80 miles southeast of
Pittsburgh. The fate of those aboard was not
immediately known and it was not clear if the crash
was related to the disasters elsewhere.
Authorities went on alert from coast to coast, halting
all air traffic, evacuating high-profile buildings and
tightening security at strategic installations. The
Situation Room at the White House was in full
operation.
"Everyone was screaming, crying, running, cops,
people, firefighters, everyone," said Mike Smith, a fire
marshal. "It's like a war zone."
"I just saw the building I work in come down," said
businessman Gabriel Ioan, shaking in shock outside
City Hall, a cloud of smoke and ash from the World
Trade Center behind him. "I just saw the top of Trade
Two come down."
Nearby a crowd mobbed a man on a pay phone, screaming at him to get off the
phone so that they could call relatives. Dust and dirt flew everywhere. Ash was 2
to 3 inches deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified.
Evacuations were ordered at the United Nations in New York and at the Sears
Tower in Chicago. Los Angeles mobilized its anti-terrorism division, and security
was intensified around the naval facilities in Hampton Roads, Va.
One of the planes that crashed into the Trade Center was American Airlines
Flight 11, hijacked after takeoff from Boston en route to Los Angeles, American
Airlines said.
The planes blasted fiery, gaping holes in the upper floors of the twin towers. A
witness said he saw bodies falling from the twin towers and people jumping out.
About an hour later, the southern tower collapsed with a roar a huge cloud of
smoke; the other tower fell about a half-hour after that.
"This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that's ever taken place in the
world," said Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Transport in London. "It
takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none.
Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. ... I would name at the
top of the list Osama Bin Laden."
All planes are grounded across the country by the Federal Aviation
Administration. All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan are closed down.
In Washington, a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said the FBI suspects the events in New York and Washington were part of an
organized terrorist campaign.
Each moment seemed to bring fresh evidence of that:
A car bomb exploded outside the State Department, senior law
enforcement officials said.
A loud explosion was reported in the vicinity of the Capitol.
The departments of Justice, State, Treasury and Defense were among
those ordered evacuated, as were the Capitol and the White House. In a
remarkable scene, security guards brandishing automatic weapons could
be seen outside the White House.
The FAA ordered the entire nationwide air traffic system shut down.
A senior U.S. intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said,
"We don't know who's doing it. Clearly, it's terrorism related, a carefully
coordinated attack. It's not the work of an unsophisticated enemy. It's too soon to
say who."
The twin disaster at the World Trade Center happened shortly before 9 a.m. and
then right around 9 a.m.
Heavy black smoke billowed into the sky above the gaping holes in the side of
the twin towers, one of New York City's most famous landmarks, and debris
rained down upon the street, one of the city's busiest work areas. When the
second plane hit, a fireball of flame and smoke erupted, leaving a huge hole in the
glass and steel tower.
John Axisa, who was getting off a PATH train to the World Trade Center, said he
saw "bodies falling out" of the building. He said he ran outside, and watched
people jump out of the first building, and then there was a second explosion, and
he felt heat on the back of neck.
WCBS-TV, citing an FBI agent, said five or six people jumped out of the windows.
People screamed every time another person leaped.
David Reck was handing out literature for a candidate for public advocate a few
blocks away when he saw a jet come in "very low, and then it made a slight twist
and dove into the building."
People ran down the stairs in panic and fled the building. Thousands of pieces of
what appeared to be office paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about three miles
away.
Within the hour, an aircraft crashed on a helicopter landing pad near the
Pentagon, a car bomb exploded outside the State Department, and the West
Wing of the White House was evacuated amid threats of terrorism. And another
explosion rocked New York about an hour after the crash.
"Today we've had a national tragedy," Bush said in Sarasota, Fla. "Two airplanes
have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our
country." He said he would be returning immediately to Washington.
Terrorist bombers struck the World Trade Center in February 1993, killing six
people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
"A second occurrence is just beyond belief," said Ira Furber, former National
Transportation Safety Board spokesman.
"It's just sick. It just shows how vulnerable we really are," said Keith Meyers, 39,
of Ohio. "It kind of makes you want to go home and spend time with your family.
It puts everything in perspective," Meyers said. He said he called to check in with
his wife. They have two young children.
In New York, "we heard a large boom and then we saw all this debris just falling,"
said Harriet Grimm, who was inside a bookstore on the World Trade Center's first
floor when the first explosion rocked the building.
"The plane was coming in low and ... it looked like it hit at a slight angle," said
Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, the network reported.
Several subway lines were immediately shut down today. Trading on Wall Street
was suspended.
"We heard a large boom and then we saw all this debris just falling," said Harriet
Grimm, who was inside a bookstore on the World Trade Center's first floor when
the first explosion rocked the building.
"The plane was coming in low and ... it looked like it hit at a slight angle," said
Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, the network reported.
In 1945, an Army Air Corps B-25, a twin-engine bomber, crashed into the 79th
floor of the Empire State Building in dense fog.
In Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his
chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned
somber before he resumed reading. He addressed the tragedy about a half-hour
later.
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