The September 11 attacks, also referred to as 9/11, were a series of four well-planned Islamist suicide terrorist strikes against the United States on September 11, 2001, carried out by al-Qaeda. Four commercial planes that were supposed to depart from the East Coast and head for California were taken over by 19 terrorists that morning.
In an attempt to attack the nation’s capital, the hijackers directed their next two planes towards targets in or around Washington, D.C. After crashing the first two aircraft into the World Trade Centre Twin Towers in New York City, which at the time were two of the five tallest buildings in the world. The U.S. Department of Defense’s headquarters are located in Arlington County, Virginia, and was successfully targeted by the third team, while the fourth plane crashed during a passenger revolt.
Facts About September 11 Attacks
2,996 people lost their lives in terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, at the Pentagon in Virginia, the World Trade Centre in New York City, and a plane crash in Pennsylvania.
The attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 resulted in the largest loss of life by a foreign attack on American soil.
On any given workday, up to 50,000 employees worked in the WTC twin towers before 9/11.
After 9/11, 18 people were pulled alive from the wreckage of the World Trade Centre.
Along with 1.4 million tons of debris removed, 19,435 body parts were recovered from the WTC after 9/11.
Al-Qaeda debated attacking nuclear power plants on September 11, 2001, but ultimately decided against it because they thought things might “get out of control.”
The New York Times wrote an article about every single 9/11 victim.
It was eventually discovered that Tania Head, the most well-known survivor of the World Trade Centre and the president of its support group, was a fraud because she wasn’t even in New York City on 9/11.
14 of Kenya’s most valuable cattle were donated as aid to the United States by the Maasai tribe following the events of 9/11.
The President George W. Bush was given a memo titled “Bin Laden Determined To Strike in the US” a month before 9/11, which stated that the attack would likely involve plane hijacking, with a possible target being New York City.
The 9/11 attacks also destroyed US$100 million in art, including work from Pablo Picasso.
Actor James Woods reported four suspicious people on his flight in August 2001. When the authorities ignored his allegation, they were later identified as the 9/11 hijackers.
Another nearby building that collapsed after the 9/11 attacks was 7 World Trade Centre, where the CIA maintained a secret office on the 25th floor.
The City of New York comptroller calculated in 2002 that the effects of 9/11 on the city’s wealth totaled US$30.5 billion.
Two F16 pilots went on a suicide mission to stop Flight 93 on 9/11. In the end, the flight’s passengers took the plane down.
6.5 hectares of buildings in New York were directly damaged when the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001.
9/11 was not the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. A bombing in February 1993 killed six people.
The United States received a 9/11 memorial monument from Russia in 2006, and it was built in Bayonne, New Jersey.
In 1997, a college student made up a chilling prophecy ascribed to Nostradamus regarding the 9/11 attacks, demonstrating the ease with which such predictions can be misapplied.
The man who ordered the grounding of all aircraft in the U.S. on 9/11 was on his first day on the job.
A meeting on what to do in the event of a terrorist attack was scheduled for 9/11/2001 on Tower 1 by the company that owned the WTC, but it was postponed the night before due to an unforeseen absence.
A 9/11 Memorial made of steel taken from the wreckage of the World Trade Centre exists in Israel.
A 15-year-old boy in Tampa, Florida, stole an aircraft in 2002 and crashed it into a skyscraper after being inspired by the events of 9/11. He was the only one to pass away.
On 9/11, four people in the South Tower of the WTC managed to escape from a floor above the plane’s impact.
More than 1,100 people have been diagnosed with cancer as a result of “exposure to toxins at Ground Zero” from 9/11.
The largest sea evacuation in the U.S. happened on 9/11. Almost 500,000 people got evacuated by boat in less than 9 hours.
For a movie, Jackie Chan was supposed to be on top of the WTC on September 11, 2001, but the screenwriter neglected to deliver the script in time.
In the wake of 9/11, Canada provided housing, food, and shelter to over 33,000 passengers when flights were grounded or diverted.
Out of the 2749 people present when the Twin Towers collapsed on September 11, only 1600 victims could be identified.
Microsoft was about to use “Prepare to Fly” as a slogan for Windows XP launch but dropped it because of 9/11.
On September 11, 2001, flights were suspended, and only one aircraft was permitted to take off. It was an aircraft delivering antivenin to a man who had been bitten by a very dangerous snake.
It’s estimated that 1,000 additional deaths occurred in the months following 9/11 because Americans chose to travel by car instead of by plane.
For those who jumped from the WTC on 9/11, the fall lasted 10 seconds. They struck the ground at just under 150 mph, enough to ensure instant death on impact.
It was determined that the people who leaped from the WTC on 9/11 were murdered, not suicide.
At the WTC on 9/11, an estimated 410,000 people were exposed to the toxic material asbestos. Roughly 70% of rescuers suffer from lung issues.
NASA recovered metal from the WTC and used it on Martian rovers as a tribute to those fallen on the 9/11 attacks.
The last survivor removed from the WTC collapse debris in 9/11 was found in the ruins of the North Tower 27 hours after its collapse.
| September 11 attacks | |
|---|---|
| Attack type | Islamic terrorism, aircraft hijacking, suicide attack, mass murder |
| Deaths | 2,996 (2,977 victims + 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists) |
| Injured | 6,000–25,000+ |
| Perpetrators | Al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden (see also: responsibility) |
| Operator | Flight number | Aircraft type | Time of departure* | Time of crash* | Departed from | En route to | Crash site | Fatalities (There were no survivors from the flights) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | Passengers†| Ground | Hijackers | Total‡ | ||||||||
| American Airlines | 11 | Boeing 767-223ER | 7:59 a.m. | 8:46 a.m. | Logan International Airport | Los Angeles International Airport | North Tower of the World Trade Center, floors 93 to 99 | 11 | 76 | 2,606 | 5 | 2,763 |
| United Airlines | 175 | Boeing 767–222 | 8:14 a.m. | 9:03 a.m.[g] | Logan International Airport | Los Angeles International Airport | South Tower of the World Trade Center, floors 77 to 85 | 9 | 51 | 5 | ||
| American Airlines | 77 | Boeing 757–223 | 8:20 a.m. | 9:37 a.m. | Washington Dulles International Airport | Los Angeles International Airport | West wall of Pentagon | 6 | 53 | 125 | 5 | 189 |
| United Airlines | 93 | Boeing 757–222 | 8:42 a.m. | 10:03 a.m. | Newark Int’l Airport | San Francisco International Airport | Field in Stony creek Township, near Shanksville | 7 | 33 | 0 | 4 | 44 |
| Totals | 33 | 213 | 2,731 | 19 | 2,996 | |||||||
