In a horrific sequence of destruction, terrorists hijacked two airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in a coordinated series of attacks yesterday morning that brought down the twin 110-story towers. An aircraft also crashed at the Defense Department, raising fears that the seat of government itself was under attack.
Loss of life was expected to be catastrophic.
"I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost," Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. "Right now we have to focus on saving as many lives as possible."
PHOTO: AP
Authorities had been trying to evacuate those who work in the twin towers, but many were thought to have been trapped. About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center. American Airlines said its two aircraft were carrying a total of 156 people.
Hospitals in New York were overwhelmed with patients as a massive cloud billowed into the blue skies over Manhattan.
"Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe," said Dr. Steven Stern at Saint Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
`Unprecedented attack'
"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."
An Arab journalist with access to bin Laden said in London that the renegade Saudi had warned three weeks ago of an "unprecedented attack" on US interests.
President George W. Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to "hunt down the folks who committed this act."
Palestinian gunmen at refugee camps in Lebanon fired into the air to celebrate news of the attacks on major US landmarks.
Within the hour, an aircraft crashed on a helicopter landing pad near the Pentagon, and the White House, the Pentagon and the US capitol building were evacuated.
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, the airline said. American Airlines issued a statement saying it had "lost" two aircraft -- Flight 11, with 92 people aboard, and Flight 77 from Washington to Los Angeles, carrying 64 people.
Crash in Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, crashed about 130km 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.
In a statement, the airline also said it was deeply concerned about another plane, Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles.
Authorities went on alert from coast to coast, halting all air traffic -- an unprecedented step -- evacuating high-profile buildings and tightening security at strategic installations. The Situation Room at the White House was in full operation.
At the World Trade Center, "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 up to 8cm deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified.
Evacuations
Evacuations were ordered at the UN 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, Virginia.
The planes blasted fiery, gaping holes in the upper floors of the twin towers. A witness said he saw bodies falling and people jumping out. About an hour later, the southern tower collapsed with a roar and a huge cloud of smoke; the other tower fell about a half-hour after that, covering lower Manhattan in heaps of gray rubble and broken glass.
Firefighters trapped in the rubble radioed for help.
"Today we've had a national tragedy," Bush said in Sarasota, Florida. "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.
The crashes at the World Trade Center happened minutes apart, beginning just before 9am.
Heavy black smoke billowed into the sky above one of New York City's most famous landmarks, and debris rained down on 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.
`Bodies falling out'
John Axisa, who was getting off a commuter 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. 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. Witnesses on the street screamed every time another person leaped.
People ran down the stairs in panic and fled the building. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper drifted over Brooklyn, about 5km away.
Several subway lines were immediately shut down. Trading on Wall Street was suspended until at least Monday. New York's mayoral primary election was postponed. All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed down.
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."
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," Keith Meyers, 39, said in Columbus, 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.
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 9:05am 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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