- NEW YORK - Both towers
of the World Trade Center collapsed this morning after terrorists crashed
two planes into them.
-
- Explosions also rocked the Pentagon and the State Department
and spread fear across the nation.
-
- A witness said he saw bodies falling from the twin towers
and people jumping out.
-
- President Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to
''hunt down the folks who committed this act.''
-
- 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. The southern tower collapsed with a roar about an hour
later.
-
- ''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 were grounded across the country by the Federal
Aviation Administration. All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed
down.
-
- 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.
-
- Several subway lines were immediately shut down Tuesday.
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.
-
- CBS television said eight airplanes have been hijacked
and four planes were still unaccounted for. One plane crashed into the
U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, CBS said.A United Airlines jetliner
reportedly crashed outside the Pittsburg area in Pennsylvania.
-
- The White House, the State Department, the Capitol Hill
and other federal agencies were ordered evacuated.
-
- ''Today we have a national tragedy. Two airplanes have
crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on
our country,'' Bush said shortly after the World Trade Center crashes.Both
towers collapsed later.
-
- The two crashes, which came just 18 minutes apart, triggered
huge explosions and blaze in the twin buildings.
-
- The first plane crashed into the higher section of the
north tower at around 8:45 a.m. The second plane slammed into the mid-section
of the other tower, setting a huge fireball in the building.
-
- The south tower collapsed at around 10 a.m. following
an explosion, the third to hit the landmark building. The other tower collapsed
later.
-
- New York Mayor Rudolf Guiliani predicted ''tremendous
number of lives lost'' in the attack on the World Trade Center, a mammoth
office complex in southern Manhattan where about 50,000 people work and
a favorite sightseeing spot.
-
- Bush vowed to mobilize all resources to hunt down those
responsible. Bush, who spoke from an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida,
immediately flew back to Washington to cope with the crisis.
-
- Reuters news agency, quoting Abu Dhabi television, said
the DFLP Palestinian organization claimed responsibility for the World
Trade Center attack. The DFLP denied that it was involved.
-
- American Airlines said it lost two aircraft in the incidents
-- a Boeing 767 en route from Boston to Los Angeles and a Boeing 757 operating
from Washington to Los Angeles.
-
- The Federation Aviation Administration shut all airports
in the country.
-
- American said the Boeing 767 had 92 people on board,
the Boeing 757 had 64 people aboard.
-
- The first plane crashed into the higher section of the
north tower at around 8:45 a.m. The second plane slammed into the mid-section
of the other tower, setting a huge fireball in the building.vThe south
tower collapsed at around 10 a.m. following an explosion, the third to
hit the landmark building. The other tower collapsed later.
-
- New York Mayor Rudolf Guiliani predicted ''tremendous
number of lives lost'' in the attack on the World Trade Center, a mammoth
office complex in southern Manhattan where about 50,000 people work and
a favorite sightseeing spot.
-
- Bush vowed to mobilize all resources to hunt down those
responsible. Bush, who spoke from an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida,
immediately flew back to Washington to cope with the crisis.Reuters news
agency, quoting Abu Dhabi television, said the DFLP Palestinian organization
claimed responsibility for the World Trade Center attack. The DFLP denied
that it was involved.American Airlines said it lost two aircraft in the
incidents -- a Boeing 767 en route from Boston to Los Angeles and a Boeing
757 operating from Washington to Los Angeles.The Federation Aviation Administration
shut all airports in the country.American said the Boeing 767 had 92 people
on board, the Boeing 757 had 64 people aboard.
|
