On Tuesday, 11 September 2001, suicide attackers took control of US passenger planes and crashed them into two tall buildings in New York, killing thousands. This event was one of the most shocking moments of the century, affecting not just the US but the entire world.
9/11: World Trade Center Attack on 11th Sept, 2001
What happened on 9/11?
Four planes flying in the eastern US were hijacked by small groups of attackers. They used the planes as weapons, crashing them into important buildings in New York and Washington, DC. Two planes hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The first one hit the North Tower at 08:46 AM Eastern Time, and the second hit the South Tower at 09:03 AM. Both buildings caught fire, trapping people on the upper floors. Within two hours, both 110-story towers collapsed into clouds of dust.
Another plane hit the Pentagon, the US military’s headquarters, at 09:37 AM. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania at 10:03 AM after passengers fought back against the hijackers. It’s believed this plane was meant to hit the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.
How many people died?
A total of 2,977 people died in the attacks, not including the 19 hijackers. This includes:
- All 246 passengers and crew on the four planes.
- 2,606 people in or around the Twin Towers.
- 125 people at the Pentagon.
The youngest victim was a two-year-old girl named Christine Lee Hanson, who was on one of the planes with her parents. The oldest was 82-year-old Robert Norton, who was also on a plane with his wife.
About 17,400 people were inside the Twin Towers when the first plane hit. No one above the impact zone in the North Tower survived, but 18 people escaped from above the impact zone in the South Tower. Citizens of 77 countries died in the attacks, and New York lost 441 first responders. Many people also got sick later from the toxic debris.
Who were the attackers?
The attacks were planned by an Islamist extremist group called al-Qaeda, led by Osama Bin Laden. They blamed the US for conflicts in the Muslim world. Nineteen men carried out the hijackings in four groups. Each group had at least one person trained as a pilot. Most of the attackers were from Saudi Arabia, like Bin Laden himself, while others were from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Lebanon.
How did the US respond?
In less than a month, President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda and capture Bin Laden. It wasn’t until 2011 that US forces killed Bin Laden in Pakistan. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the mastermind behind the attacks, was captured in 2003. He has been held in US custody at Guantanamo Bay but has not gone to trial.
Al-Qaeda still exists today, especially in parts of Africa and Afghanistan. US troops left Afghanistan in 2021 after nearly 20 years, raising fears that al-Qaeda could become stronger again.
The legacy of 9/11
After 9/11, flight safety improved worldwide. In the US, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created to increase airport security. It took more than eight months to clean up the debris at “Ground Zero,” where the Twin Towers once stood. Now, a memorial and museum stand on the site. The One World Trade Center, also called the “Freedom Tower,” was built and is even taller than the original North Tower.
Rebuilding at the Pentagon was faster, and employees were back to work there by August 2002.