Events
At 8:46 a.m., five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center's North Tower (1 WTC), and at 9:03 a.m., another five hijackers crashedUnited Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower (2 WTC).[6][7]
Five hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the The Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.[8]
A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, under the control of four hijackers, eventually crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, at 10:03 a.m. after the passengers fought the hijackers. Flight 93's ultimate target is believed to have been either the Capitol or the White House.[5] Flight 93's cockpit voice recorder revealed crew and passengers attempted to seize control of the plane from the hijackers after learning through phone calls that similarly hijacked planes had been crashed into buildings that morning.[9] Once it became evident to the hijackers that the passengers might regain control of the plane, one hijacker ordered another to roll the plane and intentionally crash it.[10] Soon afterward, Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville.
Some passengers and crew members who were able to make phone calls from the aircraft using the cabin airphone service and mobile phones provided details that there were several hijackers aboard each plane; that mace, tear gas, or pepper spray was used and that some people aboard had been stabbed.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Reports indicated hijackers stabbed and killed pilots, flight attendants, and one or more passengers.[4][18] In their final report, the 9/11 Commission found the hijackers had recently purchased multi-function hand tools and assorted knives and blades.[19][20] A flight attendant on Flight 11, a passenger on Flight 175, and passengers on Flight 93 said the hijackers had bombs, but one of the passengers also said he thought the bombs were fake. The FBI found no traces of explosives at the crash sites, and the 9/11 Commission concluded the bombs were probably fake.[4]
Once it became known that Flight 11 had been hijacked, two F-15s were scrambled from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts and were airborne by 8:53 a.m.[21] The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) had 9 minutes' notice that Flight 11 had been hijacked. Because of poor communication with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), they had no notice about any of the other flights before they crashed.[21] After both of the Twin Towers had been hit, more fighters were scrambled from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia at 9:30 a.m.[21] At 10:20 a.m. orders were issued to shoot down any commercial aircraft that could be positively identified as being hijacked. However, these instructions were not relayed in time for the fighters to take action.[21][22][23][24] Some fighters took to the air without live ammunition, knowing that to prevent the hijackers from striking their intended targets, the pilots might have to intercept and crash their fighters into the hijacked planes, possibly ejecting at the last moment.[25] In a 2005 interview with the fighter pilots who responded from Otis Air National Guard Base, one pilot observed, "Nobody would be calling us heroes if we shot down four airliners on September 11."[26]
Three buildings in the World Trade Center Complex collapsed due to structural failure.[27] The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. after burning for 56 minutes in a fire caused by the impact of United Airlines Flight 175.[27] The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m. after burning for 102 minutes.[27] When the North Tower collapsed, debris fell on the nearby 7 World Trade Center building (7 WTC), damaging it and starting fires. These fires burned for hours, compromising the building's structural integrity, and 7 WTC collapsed at 5:21 p.m.[28][29] The Pentagon also sustained major damage.
All aircraft within the continental U.S. were grounded,[when?] and aircraft already in flight were told to land immediately. All international civilian aircraft were either turned back or redirected to airports in Canada or Mexico, and all international flights were banned from landing on U.S. soil for three days.[30] The attacks created widespread confusion among news organizations and air traffic controllers. Among the unconfirmed and often contradictory news reports aired throughout the day, one of the most prevalent said a car bomb had been detonated at the U.S. State Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C.[31] Another jet—Delta Air Lines Flight 1989—was suspected of having been hijacked, but the aircraft responded to controllers and landed safely in Cleveland, Ohio.[32]
In a September 2002 interview, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who are believed to have organized the attacks, said Flight 93's intended target was the United States Capitol, not the White House.[33] During the planning stage of the attacks, Mohamed Atta, the hijacker and pilot of Flight 11, thought the White House might be too tough a target and sought an assessment from Hani Hanjour, who would later hijack and pilot Flight 77.[34] Mohammed also said al-Qaeda initially planned to target nuclear installations rather than the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but decided against it, fearing things could "get out of control".[35] Final decisions on targeting, according to Mohammed, were left in the hands of the pilots.[34]
Casualties
| Deaths (excluding hijackers) | ||
|---|---|---|
| New York City | World Trade Center | 2,606[36][37] |
| American 11 | 87[38] | |
| United 175 | 60[39] | |
| Arlington | Pentagon | 125[40] |
| American 77 | 59[41] | |
| Shanksville | United 93 | 40[42] |
| Total | 2,977 | |
There were a total of 2,996 deaths from the attacks, including the 19 hijackers and 2,977 victims.[43] The victims included 246 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors), 2,606 in New York City in the towers and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon.[36][44] Nearly all of the victims were civilians; 55 military personnel were among those killed at the Pentagon.[45]
More than 90% of the workers and visitors who died in the towers had been at or above the points of impact.[46] In the North Tower 1,355 people at or above the point of impact were trapped and died of smoke inhalation, fell or jumped from the tower to escape the smoke and flames, or were killed in the building's eventual collapse. A further 107 people below the point of impact did not survive.[46] In the South Tower one stairwell remained intact, allowing 18 people to escape from above the point of impact.[47] In the South Tower 630 people died, fewer than half the number killed in the North Tower.[46] Casualties in the South Tower were significantly reduced by the decision of some occupants to start evacuating when the North Tower was struck.[47]
At least 200 people fell or jumped to their deaths from the burning towers (as depicted in the photograph The Falling Man), landing on the streets and rooftops of adjacent buildings hundreds of feet below.[48] Some occupants of each tower above the point of impact made their way toward the roof in hope of helicopter rescue, but the roof access doors were locked. No plan existed for helicopter rescues, and the thick smoke and intense heat would have prevented helicopters from approaching.[49]
A total of 411 emergency workers died as they tried to rescue people and fight fires. The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) lost 341 firefighters and 2 paramedics.[50] The New York City Police Department(NYPD) lost 23 officers.[51] The Port Authority Police Department lost 37 officers.[52] Eight emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics from private emergency medical services units were killed.[53][54]
Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., an investment bank on the 101st–105th floors of the North Tower, lost 658 employees, considerably more than any other employer.[55] Marsh Inc., located immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald on floors 93–100, lost 358 employees,[56][57] and 175 employees of Aon Corporation were also killed.[58] The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimated that about 17,400 civilians were in the World Trade Center complex at the time of the attacks though turnstile counts from the Port Authority suggest 14,154 people were typically in the Twin Towers by 8:45 a.m.[59][60] The vast majority of people below the impact zone safely evacuated the buildings.[61]
After New York, New Jersey lost the most state citizens, with the city of Hoboken sustaining the most deaths.[62] More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center.[63] Two people were later added to the official death toll after dying from health conditions linked to exposure to dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center.[64][65]
Weeks after the attack, the death toll was estimated to be over 6,000, more than twice the number of deaths eventually confirmed.[66] The city was only able to identify remains for about 1,600 of the World Trade Center victims. The medical examiner's office collected "about 10,000 unidentified bone and tissue fragments that cannot be matched to the list of the dead".[67] Bone fragments were still being found in 2006 by workers who were preparing to demolish the damaged Deutsche Bank Building. In 2010, a team of anthropologists and archaeologists searched for human remains and personal items at the Fresh Kills Landfill, where seventy-two more human remains were recovered, bringing the total found to 1,845. DNA profiling continues in an attempt to identify additional victims.[68] As of August 2011, 1,631 victims have been identified, while 1,122 (41%) of the victims remained unidentified.[69][70] The remains are being held in storage in Memorial Park, outside the New York City Medical Examiner’s facilities. It is expected that the remains will be moved in 2013 to a repository behind a wall at the 9/11 museum. A medical examiner, who will have a workspace at the site, will continue to try to identify remains, in the hope improved technology will allow them to identify other victims.[7
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