How horror of 9/11 unfolded minute by minute from hijackers at airport security to planes crashing into Twin Towers

SMOKE poured from a gaping hole in one of New York’s Twin Towers after a passenger plane smashed into the skyscraper. But as images of the burning building were beamed around the world, many, including President George W. Bush, believed it was a terrible accident. Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 flies toward the World Trade Center twin towers shortly before slamming into the South tower as the North tower burns Credit: Reuters People run in terror from the collapse of World Trade Center Tower Tuesday on Sept. 11, 2001 in New York Credit: AP:Associated Press Then, 17 minutes later, a second jet hit the other tower live on television. America was under attack. Nineteen Al-Qaeda terrorists had hijacked four passenger planes that morning. Two were flown into the World Trade Center and a third hit the Pentagon, while a fourth came down in a field in Pennsylvania. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! In all, 2,977 innocent people were killed in the September 11 attacks. Now, 25 years on, The Sun looks back at how the deadliest terror attack on US soil unfolded, minute by minute. 6AM KILLERS ON THE MOVE Hijackers Mohammed Atta (R) and Abdulaziz Alomari (C) as they pass through airport security 11 September, 2001, at 5:45:13am. Credit: EPA Ringleader Mohamed Atta and fellow hijacker Abdulaziz al-Omari fly from Portland, Maine, to Boston’s Logan International Airport. Elsewhere, the other hijackers are arriving at airports in Boston, Washington and Newark for the flights they will seize later that morning. Atta, a 33-year-old Egyptian, had arrived in the US the previous year and undergone pilot training. Most read in The Sun 7.25AM THEY BOARD 11 of the 19 suspected hijackers responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as well as those that hijacked the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Credit: Reuters Five hijackers begin boarding United Airlines Flight 175 at Boston’s Logan Airport. Less than two hours later, the plane will crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Ten minutes later, Mohamed Atta and four other terrorists board American Airlines Flight 11 at the same airport. It will be the first plane to strike, hitting the North Tower at 8.46am. 8.14AM HIJACKING BEGINS The terrorists make their move on Flight 11, attacking cabin crew and storming the cockpit. Passenger Daniel Lewin is stabbed, while flight attendant Betty Ong manages to call American Airlines and report that people on board have been hurt. “We can’t breathe,” she says. “I don’t know, I think we’re getting hijacked.” 8.20AM THIRD PLANE TAKES OFF American Airlines Flight 77 leaves Washington Dulles International Airport carrying 58 passengers and six crew. Five hijackers are also on board. The plane is bound for Los Angeles. It will instead be flown into the Pentagon. 8.26AM JET TURNS FOR NEW YORK Flight 11, the first of the two planes that will hit the Twin Towers, suddenly changes course and begins heading south towards New York. Air traffic controllers then hear a transmission apparently intended for the passengers. “We have some planes,” Atta says. 8.42AM FINAL FLIGHT LEAVES The last of the four doomed planes, United Airlines Flight 93, takes off from Newark after a 42-minute delay. At almost the same time, hijackers seize United Airlines Flight 175, the second of the two planes that left Boston. It is turned towards New York. 8.46AM FIRST IMPACT Smoke pours from one of the towers of the World Trade Center after terrorists crash plane into the building Credit: AP American Airlines Flight 11, hijacked by Atta and four accomplices, crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. It strikes floors 93 to 99 and a fireball erupts from the building, sending debris into the streets below. One estimate put the number of people in the World Trade Center complex at the time as between 16,400 and 18,800. More than 1,300 are on the floors hit by the plane or above, with some dying instantly. Workers begin fleeing down the stairs. But the impact has destroyed every escape route from the floors above it. Early television reports suggest it may have been a terrible accident. 8.50AM FIREFIGHTERS GO IN People walk away from the World Trade Center tower in New York City Credit: Reuters One of the first fire crews into the North Tower finds badly burned victims in the lobby. Jet fuel is believed to have poured down lift shafts from the impact site before igniting below, blowing out windows and wrecking part of the lobby. Fire chiefs quickly realise they cannot fight the inferno raging high above them. Instead, crews begin climbing the stairs, carrying heavy equipment as they head towards those trapped and injured. More than 1,000 first responder emergency personnel are on the scene, in what has already become the largest rescue operation in the history of New York City and New Jersey. 9.03AM SECOND STRIKE Just 17 minutes after the first attack, the second tower was hit Credit: AP Seventeen minutes after the first impact, the other hijacked Boston flight appears over Manhattan. United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower between floors 77 and 85. The second strike is caught live on television, confirming America is under attack. 9.05AM BUSH IS TOLD White House chief of staff Andrew Card whispers into the ear of President George W. Bush to give him word of the plane crashes into the World Trade Center Credit: AP President George W Bush is sitting with schoolchildren in Florida when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, approaches and whispers into his ear. “A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack.” He goes ahead with reading a story to the kids as planned – and says later that he did not want to alarm the youngsters. 9.20AM TRAPPED IN THE TOWERS Workers on the 64th floor are told to stay put and wait for police to reach them. Similar advice is given to others inside the tower, with emergency call handlers telling them to wait for instructions rather than evacuate. Many of those who stayed are believed to have later died. 9.28AM FLIGHT 93 SEIZED By now, three of the four planes have been hijacked. The terrorists aboard the remaining aircraft, United Airlines Flight 93, storm its cockpit over Ohio. Passengers begin making calls from the plane and learn about the attacks in New York. Some start discussing whether they can overpower the hijackers. 9.37AM PENTAGON HIT The Pentagon building is hit by the American Airlines Flight 77 Credit: AFP American Airlines Flight 77, which had taken off from Washington earlier that morning, flies low towards the capital. It clips street lights before crashing into the western side of the Pentagon. The 59 passengers and crew are killed, along with the five hijackers and 125 people inside the building. Smoke rises from the headquarters of the US military as senior government figures are moved to secure locations. 9.42AM US AIRSPACE SHUT Aviation authorities order all civilian aircraft over the US to land at the nearest available airport. It is the first nationwide grounding of its kind. 9.57AM PASSENGERS FIGHT BACK Only one of the four hijacked planes is still in the air. Passengers aboard Flight 93 try to retake the aircraft after learning what happened to the other three. Todd Beamer is among those who head towards the cockpit. Towards the end of a phone call from the plane, he is heard saying: “Let’s roll.” The cockpit recording captures the struggle as the hijackers throw the aircraft from side to side. 9.59AM SOUTH TOWER FALLS The South Tower collapses 56 minutes after Flight 175 crashed into it. The 110-storey building comes down in seconds, sending a huge cloud of dust and debris through Lower Manhattan. 10.03AM FINAL PLANE CRASHES Flight 93 crashes into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board. Passengers had still been trying to reach the cockpit shortly before it came down. The hijackers had turned the plane towards Washington, although investigators have never established for certain what they intended to hit. 10.28AM NORTH TOWER FALLS Firemen work around the World Trade Center after both towers collapsed Credit: Reuters The North Tower collapses after burning for one hour and 42 minutes. It had been hit first, by American Airlines Flight 11 at 8.46am. People are still being evacuated from the area and emergency workers remain at the World Trade Center when it comes down. The collapse sends another cloud of dust and debris through Lower Manhattan and damages surrounding buildings. 5.20PM THIRD BUILDING FALLS World Trade Center 7, a 47-storey building close to the Twin Towers, collapses after being damaged by debris and burning for hours. It had already been evacuated. AFTERMATH U.S. President George W. Bush later launched a War on Terror Credit: Reuters That night, President Bush addressed Americans from the Oval Office. “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them,” he warned. Less than a month later, America was at war. US and British forces began bombing Afghanistan on October 7 after the Taliban refused to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It was the beginning of the War on Terror and a conflict in Afghanistan that would last nearly 20 years. Bin Laden remained on the run for almost another decade before US special forces tracked him to a compound in Pakistan and killed him in May 2011. American troops finally left Afghanistan in August 2021. Back in the US, 9/11 led to an overhaul of airport security and tougher counter-terror laws. And the death toll did not end with the 2,977 killed that day. Thousands of survivors and emergency workers exposed to toxic dust at Ground Zero later developed cancers and other serious illnesses. Comment now