A few images above of what the WTC (world trade centre) looked like before the brutal attacks on America.
The original WTC was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark TT (twin towers) in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, the housed office space, an observation deck, the “Windows on the World” restaurant, and an underground shopping mall, and served as a transit hub for New Jersey PATH train and New York City subway riders. Approximately 50,000 people worked at the WTC, with another 40,000 passing through daily. It was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new skyscrapers and a memorial to the casualties of the attacks. As of September 2011, only one skyscraper has been completed with four more expected to be completed before 2020. One World Trade Center will be the lead building for the new complex and is expected to be finished by 2013. A sixth tower is still awaiting confirmation to be built. At the time of their completion, the original 1 and 2 World Trade Center were the tallest buildings in the world, surpassing the Empire State Building, also in Manhattan.
1993 Bombing of WTC
On February 26, 1993, at 12:17 p.m., a Ryder truck filled with 1,500 pounds (680 kg) of explosives, planted by Ramzi Yousef, detonated in the underground garage of the North Tower. The blast opened a 100 foot (30 m) hole through five sublevels with the greatest damage occurring on levels B1 and B2 and significant structural damage on level B3. Six people were killed and 50,000 other workers and visitors were left gasping for air within the 110 story towers. Many people inside the North Tower were forced to walk down darkened stairwells that contained no emergency lighting, some taking two hours or more to reach safety. Yousef fled to Pakistan after the bombing but was arrested in Islamabad in February 1995, and was extradited back to the United States to face trial. Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman was convicted in 1996 for involvement in the bombing and other plots. Yousef and Eyad Ismoil were convicted in November 1997 for their carrying out the bombing. Four others had been convicted in May 1994 for their involvement in the 1993 bombing. According to a presiding judge, the conspirators' chief aim at the time of the attack was to destabilize the north tower and send it crashing into the south tower, toppling both landmarks. Following the bombing, floors that were blown out needed to be repaired to restore the structural support they provided to columns. The slurry wall was in peril following the bombing and loss of the floor slabs that provided lateral support against pressure from Hudson River water on the other side. The refrigeration plant on sublevel B5, which provided air conditioning to the entire WTC complex, was heavily damaged. Subsequent to the bombing, the Port Authority installed photoluminescent markings in the stairwells. The fire alarm system for the entire complex needed to be replaced because critical wiring and signaling in the original system was destroyed. As a memorial to the victims of the bombing of the tower, a reflecting pool was installed with the names of those who had been killed in the blast. However, the memorial was destroyed following the September 11 attacks. Names of the victims of the 1993 bombing are included in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
11th September 2001
Its one of them things you know exactly where you was, what you was doing and how it affected you.. I remember getting home from primary school, was in year 4 i guess. I was playing tennis outside on the front of my old house when the second plane hit. The first plane hit and i don't really remember that but i remember coming in and not really knowing what was going on but being really fasinated by these planes that had hit these towers. I didn't know much about America at that age and don't even think i knew anything about the WTC so i didn't understand what was happening. But after watching the television for house seeing the towers fall, death, people searching for people.. i can't believe what had actually happened. Didn't know about terrorism so i just thought these planes had crashed into the towers and they'd fallen, no idea thinking it was an attack on America! When your older and you look back and watch programs on it.. you REALIZE how bad it actually was and what really happened with more knowledge on the matter! The fact it was planned and what actually happened is such a heart touching moment in your life and you don't realize how many people it affected world wide. The fact they collapsed and killed so many people.. the fireman, the police, innocent people of NY. Its shocking! Its a life changing moment for Americans and the world really!
So, what actually happened on the vivid day..
As it happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lKZqqSI9-s
Timeline of 9/11 Attacks;
7:59 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Boston's Logan Airport.
8:13 a.m. The last official communication between American Airlines Flight 11 and ground controllers occurs and the transponder stops transmitting. The hijacking occurs at about this point.
8:14 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston's Logan Airport.
8:20 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 begins going off course.
8:20 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77 leaves Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.
8:42 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 takes off from Newark Airport.
8:43 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 is hijacked.
8:46:26 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, Massachusetts, crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center with an estimated 10,000 gallons of fuel and traveling 470 mph.
8:50 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 begins heading towards New York City.
8:55 a.m. President Bush is notified of the first crash and replies, “What a horrible accident!”
8:56 a.m. The last official communication with American Airlines Flight 77 occurs and the plane's transponder is turned off. Presumably the hijacking occurs at this time.
9:02:54 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 hits the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes.
9:06 a.m. President Bush is notified of the second crash, but remains in the school classroom in Florida where he is doing a photo-op for his educational policies.
9:16 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 is probably hijacked about this time.
9:17 a.m. The Federal Aviation Administration closes all New York City area airports.
9:21 a.m. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey closes all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area.
9:29 a.m. President Bush addresses students and teachers at Booker Elementary School about the terrorist attacks.
9:30 a.m. President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, announces that the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."
9:36 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 turns and begins heading towards Washington D.C.
9:38 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
9:40 a.m. The FAA ends all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that nationwide air traffic nationwide is stopped.
9:45 a.m. The White House evacuates.
9:57 a.m. Bush leaves Florida.
10:05 a.m. The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
10:10 a.m. A portion of the Pentagon collapses.
10:10 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh.
10:13 a.m. The United Nations building evacuates.
10:24 a.m. All inbound transatlantic flights to the United States start being diverted to Canada.
10:28 a.m. The north tower of the World Trade Center collapses from the top down.
10:35 a.m. Air Force One heads for Barksdale Air Force base near Shreveport, Louisiana.
10:45 a.m. All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated.
10:57 a.m. New York Governor George Pataki closes all state government offices.
11:45 a.m. President Bush lands at Barksdale Air Force base near Shreveport, Louisiana, rather than return immediately to Washington, D.C.
1:27 p.m. A state of emergency is declared by the city of Washington, D.C.
1:44 p.m. The Pentagon announces that five warships and two aircraft carriers will leave the U.S. Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia, to protect the East Coast from further attack.
1:48 p.m. Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base and heads for Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
4:30 p.m. The president departs Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska aboard Air Force One and returns Washington, D.C.
5:20 p.m. The 47-story Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex collapses.
Something i will never forget!
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