New York City, the heart of the world's financial system and the soul of the US, resembled little more than a bloodied war zone early yesterday, as night descended in the wake of the most brazen act of terrorism in US history.
Except for the shrill of ambulance sirens, the city center lay silent and empty of civilians under a shroud of white ash and dust, all that remained of the twin towers of the World Trade Center after they were hit by a kamikaze team of passenger plane hijackers.
The immediate area around the destroyed twin towers was sealed off, even to rescue workers, for fear of falling debris. Traffic was stopped as police turned away stunned residents and onlookers.
Troops from the US National Guard, wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests, guarded key intersections and areas of the city, including around the UN complex, giving the city a war zone-like appearance.
"The World Trade Center, its like our second home. And now it's nothing," said a stunned Christine Davis, 59, one of the onlookers who gathered at the south of the city.
"I had to come to see it for myself, to see with my own eyes what I saw on the television. Our government is not capable of taking serious action against terrorists. This is war, they have to do something," said Helen Stuart, 60.
For New York, catastrophe flew out of a clear blue late summer sky at four minutes before 9am am, when a passenger airliner slammed into the northern tower of the city's two tallest skyscrapers.
The plane -- a United Airlines jet bound for Los Angeles that was hijacked shortly after takeoff from Boston -- tore a huge gash in the building and sent thick black smoke pouring into the sky.
As television viewers tuned in for live coverage, a second hijacked plane flew in 18 minutes later, circled the burning tower and ploughed into its twin.
Lauren Newmark, an employee of the financial services firm Morgan Stanley, was already walking downstairs from her office on the 70th floor of the southern tower.
"Everyone went nuts, but they were quite disciplined," she said later as she made her way up Broadway among a crowd of grim-faced but orderly people.
That discipline was briefly shattered, however, as a huge rumbling filled the air and one of the towers came down at 10:05am, sending huge swirls of smoke and dust billowing through the neighboring streets. The second tower collapsed 23 minutes later.
"Holy Father, protect us," one woman sobbed, tears streaming down her face.
Later on Tuesday, the Saint Vincent Medical Center, the first hospital to receive the wounded, was surrounded by hundreds of people, some onlookers and some relatives of victims.
Churches and synagogues also kept their doors open. Time Square, normally a throng of crowds, was abandoned, and restaurants, theaters and publics building were shut down.
At Grand Central Station, the bulletin boards only issued an appeal for blood donations.
In the few bars that were open, heads were raised to television screens as footage of the twin towers being struck by the planes and collapsing were flashed over and over again.
Tens of residents gathered in Union Square for a prayer meeting. "We can overcome this together," read placards
"This is the saddest moment of my life," lamented David Reisner, 20. "When they collapsed, my childhood went with them. I woke up with them, I fell asleep with them."
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