 Media Credit: Grant Wernick/senior photo editor The Pentagon sustained damage to three corridors on its west side when a hijacked plane crashed into it Tuesday morning. Crew works to clean wreckage Tuesday evening. |
(U-WIRE) WASHINGTON Posted 4:35 p.m. Sept. 11 In an unparalleled assault, terrorists struck targets in New York and Washington today, causing widespread damage and panic as explosions leveled New York’s World Trade Center towers and part of the Pentagon, near Washington D.C.
Casualty figures have yet to be counted but numbers are expected to be disastrous, as approximately 50,000 people on average work at the twin towers every day and thousands of personal are employed at the Pentagon.
Two explosions rocked the 110-story twin towers today starting at 8:45 a.m. EST when what is believed to be a hijacked American Airlines flight 11 from Boston en route to Los Angeles crashed into the south tower. As smoke funneled from the first building, a second plane, reported to be United Airlines flight 175 headed from Boston to Los Angeles crashed into the north tower at approximately 9:03 a.m., setting it ablaze.
After burning for about an hour, the south tower collapsed at 10:05 a.m. followed by the north tower 30 minutes later, bringing down 200,000 tons of steel and 43,600 windows.
As New York scrambled to help the injured and secure the city, a third plane crashed into the home of the Department of Defense at the Pentagon at 9:45 a.m., causing part of the structure to collapse.
American Airlines flight 77 en route to Los Angeles from Washington Dulles airport is believed to be the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
A fourth plane, United flight 93 headed to San Francisco after taking off from Newark, N.J. crashed near Pittsburgh in Somerset, Pa.
United and American Airlines both confirmed that each carrier fell victim to two hijackings. The Federal Aviation Administration halted all commercial aviation traffic for the first time in history at 9:40 a.m. and initially directed all transatlantic inbound international traffic to Canada.
National parks and federal buildings including the Capitol, all congressional office buildings and the White House west wing were evacuated following the Pentagon bombing. Subsequent reports of explosions at the State Department and the Capitol were found to be false.
