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New York, Washington Rocked by Apparent Terrorist Attacks; World Trade Center Tower Collapses
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Staff and Wire reports

Tuesday, September 11, 2001; 10:55 a.m.


In a horrific sequence of destruction, terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center and the twin 110-story towers collapsed Tuesday morning. Explosions also rocked the Pentagon and the State Department and spread fear across the nation.
The fate of those in the twin skyscrapers was not immediately known. Authorities had been trying to evacuate the 50,000 people who work in the twin towers, but many were thought to be trapped.

In Washington, a plane crashed on the helicopter landing pad adjacent to the Pentagon this morning, and there was an explosion at the Capitol Building, both occurring less than an hour after two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. There were no immediate reports of injury or damage at any of the federal buildings in the Washington area.

Shortly after the explosion at the Capitol, the federal government ordered all federal buildings in the Washington area closed down, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

Within the hour, the federal government took the additional step of shutting down national landmarks across the country, including the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty and the St. Louis Gateway Arch, among other locations, according to the National Park Service.

The Metro system remained open except for the Pentagon stop. Eyewitnesses described rising smoke and floors buckling within the Pentagon and at the building.

"We are across from the Pentagon. We are watching the smoke come across the [Potomac] river right now," a receptionist at the National Park Service's capital headquarters said.


In Pennsylvania, airport officials at Somerset County Airport reported a large plane crashing just north of the Somerset County Airport, at about 10 a.m. The plane, believed to be a Boeing 767, crashed about 8 miles east of Jennerstown, according to county 911 dispatchers, WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh reported. The airport is about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

At about 10 a.m., one of the 110-story World Trade Center towers collapsed, and the second tower collapsed about 30 minutes later.

The tragedies stunned the nation and prompted officials, fearing still more attacks, to evacuate the Capitol, the White House, State Department and other federal buildings. Flights were canceled at all major airports in the nation.

At about 10:20 a.m., the Associated Press reported the a car bomb explosion outside the State Department, senior law enforceement officials said.

Shortly before the Pentagon fire ignited, President Bush called the New York disasters "an apparent terrorist attack on our country." He hastily departed from Florida, where he had scheduled an education speech, and returned to Washington. Early details were sketchy, but the New York attacks seemed certain to cause heavy losses of life and many injuries.

There were reports that an American Airlines 767 had been hijacked earlier today on a scheduled flight from Boston to Los Angeles, and apparently was one of the planes flown into the giant towers that dominate lower Manhattan’s skyline. The second crash, which touched off a giant fireball in one of the tower’s upper floors shortly after 9 a.m. EDT, took place as many Americans watched live on television.

New York’s airports were quickly closed, the New York Stock Exchange was evacuated, and millions of Americans watched in horror and disbelief as news of the Pentagon fire soon followed.

In Florida, Bush pledged to use “the full resources of the federal government government to help the victims and their families" and “to hunt down and find those folks who committed these acts."


© 2000 The Associated Press
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