Twin towers sizes. World Trade Center. New York Twin Towers - Fallen Brothers
16 years have passed since the terrible fall of the Twin Towers in America on September 11, 2001. But the memories of that day still haunt millions of Americans. The destinies of many people were changed forever.
How many people died?
In addition to American citizens, representatives of other countries were also among the dead. Among the dead were 96 citizens from the former Soviet Union. At the end of the search and rescue operations, experts stated that approximately 10,000 fragments of human bones and tissues were found at the site of the fall of the buildings, which significantly increases the initial statistics of the incident. Fragments were found much later, in 2006, when Deutsche Bank was being reconstructed. The average age of the dead was 40 years.
Course of events
On September 9, terrorists hijacked four planes and were able to fly two of them to the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and one to the Pentagon. The remaining plane crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers were able to overpower the hijackers.
A day that began with clear blue skies ended in a twisting mass of smoldering smoke from the twisted metal where the huge mall buildings once stood. As a result of this incident, 2977 people died.
People's memory
The tragedy of September 11 occurred almost two decades ago. A quarter of Americans are too young to remember this disturbing event. “I have three children who do not remember the incident at all, since they were not born yet. But we, of course, do not want to forget, even as we live and face new challenges,” says one of the Americans.
So, in remembrance of that day, 23 images hang here, serving as reminders of what no American should forget. The tragedy has acquired enormous proportions. Witnesses to what happened can tell a lot.
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were symbols for New Yorkers. For decades, people looked up to them, and the structures stood firm. It was an encouraging sight. According to the American’s recollections, he visited the towers many times and looked at them many times. On the morning of September 11, he had just finished voting in Brooklyn when he looked up and saw one of the towers on fire. Just minutes later, a second plane crashed into another tower. Something was wrong.
When President George W. Bush was informed of the tragic incident, he was at a school event. The expression on his face, captured in the photograph, expresses almost every emotion. At that time, none of the government members knew what serious consequences this terrorist attack had for the country.
Major fire
The impact of the two fire jets was devastating. It broke the steel structure of the towers and contributed to fires that ultimately led to the destruction of the buildings. Warplanes took to the skies. Every non-military flight in US airspace was ordered to land.
Thousands of people were truly trapped on the upper floors of the towers. Many died instantly when the planes crashed into the buildings, and many more died when fires broke out and towers began to collapse. Some citizens jumped out of windows to escape the fire and smoke. A total of 2,606 people died in the towers.
The weather was wonderful, the sky was bright blue. The wind carried a massive plume of smoke over the city and New York Harbor. “Manhattan looked as if 10 megatons had exploded in it,” British writer Martin Amis later wrote.
Terrible outcome
The structure of the towers was so damaged that their collapse was an inevitable consequence of the impact. At the time, however, no one expected such a terrible outcome. People in the streets around the World Trade Center fled in panic. Buildings began to collapse one by one and fill the streets with rubble and dust.
The fires burned for hours and smoldered for days in a mass of twisting steel and rubble. Lower Manhattan, below 14th Street, will later be closed to non-rescue traffic.
The area around the World Trade Center was a scene of complete devastation. Smoke and dust hung in the air. Countless cars, trucks and rescue vehicles were destroyed.
Destroyed tower structure
The feeling of tragedy was everywhere. The New York City Fire Department lost its chaplain, Reverend Michael, who was killed by falling debris.
Little remains of the elegant facades of the Twin Towers, which Japanese architect Minoru Yamasaki designed to include narrow window openings and soaring arches.
Two 110-story towers overlooking the city were compressed into a twisted mass of molten metal. Welders spent months cutting away steel so the damaged structure could be dismantled.
Rescue work
The New York City Fire Department rushed to the scene and suffered incredibly high casualties as they tried to rescue people from the burning towers. As a result, 343 brigade members died during the suppression operation. The strong men could not stand it; tears kept running down their cheeks.
In the following days, rescuers arrived in New York from neighboring cities and states. The sight of the bodies in the rubble brought indescribable horror. A contrasting sign of indomitability was the moment when American flags were raised over the site of the tragedy.
Loved ones have posted photos of missing friends and family members in the desperate hope that they might be alive.
Tragedy brought everyone together
A city coming together is something many Americans have never seen. Citizens lined the streets to cheer on the National Guard and rescue workers as they arrived in Manhattan for the mission that became known as Ground Zero.
The Americans were consumed by a thirst for revenge. Soon national troops were stationed in Afghanistan.
These attacks were not limited to New York. The Pentagon was also hit hard, killing 125 people.
The view of the Pentagon was also terrifying, but the military headquarters building itself did not collapse.
A new tower rose to Ground Zero along with a memorial. This gave many Americans a sense of pride when it opened. But this is not enough to make people forget this terrible day, on which many lives were cut short. America itself at this moment changed radically.
The new architecture of lower Manhattan stands proudly above New York City. Here is the famous Oculus, from where you can once again look at the endless space of the city from above.
Commemorative Memorial
In memory of the enormous losses of the 2001 terrorist attacks, a museum was opened in New York, the exhibition of which is constantly expanding. According to American media reports, the memorial was visited by more than 900 thousand people.
Here you can see fragments of the steel frame of skyscrapers, a mangled fire truck that participated in putting out the fire, many photographs depicting those killed on that ill-fated day and stunning videos.
Viewers can also see the jacket of a fighter who took part in the elimination of the largest terrorist Osama bin Laden, and a symbolic coin that belonged to the CIA officer who tracked down the dangerous terrorist.
The exhibits on display at the memorial provide citizens with an opportunity to pay tribute to the courage of the many people who sacrificed their lives for their country.
In the United States, suicide bombers from the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger planes, sending two of them to the symbol of business New York - the World Trade Center towers, and the other two - to the Pentagon and, presumably, to the White House or the Capitol. All aircraft except the last one reached their targets. The fourth hijacked plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
New York District Judge George Daniels issued a default judgment ordering Iran to pay $7.5 billion to relatives and other representatives of those killed at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The judge determined that Iranian authorities must pay another three billion to insurers who covered property damage and other material losses. Earlier, Judge Daniels ruled that Tehran could not prove its non-involvement in providing assistance to the organizers of the terrorist attack, and therefore the Iranian authorities bear a share of responsibility for the damage caused during it.
On the site of the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2011, there was the World Trade Center Memorial. It consists of two square fountain pools located right at the bases of the former twin towers, along the inner walls of which streams of water cascade into square holes located at the bottom of each of the pools.
The names of 2,983 terrorist victims (including six who died in the 1993 World Trade Center attack) are carved into bronze slabs that line the parapets of both fountains.
The new World Trade Center complex was opened. It is the fourth tallest skyscraper in the world - its height is 541 meters. Construction began in April 2006 on the corner of a 65,000-square-meter site where the twin towers of a destroyed shopping center previously stood.
Celebrated in the United States as Patriot Day since 2009, after the approval of Act 111-13 of the US General Law, this date is also referred to as the national Day of Service and Remembrance.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
The terrible tragedy that occurred on September 11, 2001, claimed the lives of a huge number of people. 2973 people died, and this, you see, is a significant figure.
It was preceded by the hijacking of four planes heading to California and the eastern part of the United States. The planes' tanks were full, so you could say they turned into guided missiles.
At 8:45, one of the planes, a Boeing 767, crashed into the North Tower. 92 on board (11 crew, 5 terrorists and 76 passengers). The plane crashed into the gap between the 93rd and 99th floors. The fuel, which flared up in the tank, rushed down like a column of fire, killing even those people who were in the foyer. At 10:29 the burning building collapsed, burying a huge number of people with it. The number of the plane that crashed into the Twin Towers is AA11.
At 9:03, a plane also crashed into the South Tower; it was the second Boeing 767. The impact occurred between the 77th and 81st floors. There were 65 people on board the plane (5 terrorists, 9 crew members and 54 passengers). At 9:59 local time, the burning building collapsed. Aircraft number - UA175.
There were two more planes. One of them struck the Pentagon, this happened at 9:40. 184 people died. And the last one fell in the forest of Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. We were able to look at the recordings from the so-called “black box”. It became clear that the terrorists dived down when the resisting passengers tried to break into the cockpit. There were 44 people on board.
According to journalists, some passengers were able to call their relatives from the hijacked planes. People reported terrorists: there were 4 people on one board, 5 on the other. There is an opinion that this data was specially fabricated by the FBI, because there was one call that caused great mistrust. The son called his mother and when she answered the phone, he said: “Mom, it’s me, John Smith.” Agree, it is unlikely that he would actually start a conversation by introducing his last name.
Not a single person on board could survive. 274 people died on board planes (terrorists are not counted), 2602 people in New York (both on the ground and in the towers), 125 people in the Pentagon.
It wasn't just the Twin Towers that were damaged. Five more buildings were either destroyed or heavily damaged. In total, 25 buildings were damaged, and 7 had to be demolished.
What are the consequences of this terrible tragedy? Two skyscrapers and an adjacent wing of the Pentagon were destroyed. About three thousand people died. The New York Stock Exchange suspended its operations for two days. The area adjacent to the site of the tragedy was completely covered with ashes. The President announced the terrorist attack served the United States with Afghanistan, and then with Iraq.
The tragedy received national status, and the news of it flew across the world in a matter of seconds. It was not for nothing that these buildings were chosen by the terrorists, because the Twin Towers were the pride of the United States.
The towers were built in the 60s, at which time America's prestige was shaken. It was decided to build something gigantic, grandiose, stunning, in order to restore people's optimism and faith in themselves and the future. No one imagined that the “project of the century” would turn into the main “tragedy of the century.”
Few people know that during the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, not only the famous New York Twin Towers were destroyed. The explosions affected a huge area. Several more skyscrapers that were part of the World Trade Center complex and the Marriott Hotel collapsed. The place where towers and other buildings used to rise was nicknamed “zero mark” by the townspeople. Despite the fact that the whole of America was having a hard time experiencing the September attack, work to restore this site began already in 2001. To date, new majestic structures have appeared on the site of the destroyed Trade Center.
Freedom Tower
One of the initial tasks set by the New York administration for engineers and city planners was the creation of a new World Trade Center building. After much debate, Daniel Libeskind's project was chosen from among all the options. The architect proposed placing the offices of the World Trade Center in a mirrored skyscraper topped with a thin spire. Construction began only in 2006, and in 2014 the tower was inaugurated. Today, the Freedom Tower is the tallest building in America. Its height is 541 meters or 1776 feet (according to the architect’s idea, the number 1776 should symbolize the year the US Declaration of Independence was signed).
In the spring of 2016, a new transport hub, Oculus, was opened in front of the Freedom Tower, connecting 11 metro lines, an above-ground train station and a ferry crossing. According to the architect Santiago Calatrava, the station building resembles a dove taking off, spreading its wings.
In the center of the structure there is a huge oval hall - the “Oculus”, which gives the name to the entire structure. Along the circumference of the hall there are steel piles converging at a height of 120 meters. The majestic building has already been called the most expensive metro station in the world. According to experts, over 250 thousand people will pass through Oculus every day.
9/11 Memorial and Museum
Discussions about the construction of a memorial began in the fall of 2001. A special commission examined thousands of proposed projects. By early 2004, architect Michael Arad was declared the winner of the competition. The memorial, called Reflective Absence, features two huge square pools paved with granite. The swimming pools are located strictly in the places where the foundations of the destroyed towers were located. The names of all 2,977 victims are engraved on the outer granite walls, and water flows endlessly along the inner walls, flowing into square holes in the center. The memorial is surrounded by white oak trees, and the famous “surviving tree” also grows here - a pear that was found under the rubble of the World Trade Center.
Next to the memorial there is a small, bright building - the 9/11 Museum. Here you can see fragments of structures and cars destroyed by the explosion, personal belongings of the victims, photographs from the scene of the tragedy. The remains of still unidentified victims are kept in the same building.
The skyscrapers of the World Trade Center, or Twin Towers, were a memorable part of New York, a city that itself became a symbol of America, its indomitable character, forcing the entire country to constantly strive forward and upward, overcoming obstacles. The creation of this architectural and technocratic masterpiece was not only an engineering and economic task. By his very appearance he was supposed to inspire the idea of the inviolability of Western civilization, its eternity and power.
Again about the terrorist attack...
In the first year of the third millennium of the New Era, namely September 11, the Twin Towers were barbarically destroyed. To destroy them, the terrorists used weapons that matched the era: two huge passenger Boeing 767s, which also symbolize the power of American industry, like the skyscrapers they struck. Much has been written about these events, and there is no point in repeating the information that is known to everyone, as well as dubious assumptions about the involvement of a wide variety of forces in the terrorist attack, including the CIA and the US State Department. Journalists did not miss a single detail of the disaster. Even the number of the plane that crashed into the twin towers was subjected to careful study in search of fatal coincidences and omens. Bowing our heads in memory of the innocent people who perished, it is worth thinking not about death, but about the birth of these structures, which for almost three decades personified the American technological genius.
Prerequisites for a grandiose project
The roaring sixties were not the best time for the United States. The fundamental foundations of a free society, declared by the Founding Fathers, are under threat. The moral crisis has reached alarming proportions, like a cancerous tumor, affecting an increasing proportion of young people. Drug addiction became part of the very popular hippie subculture, and patriotism turned into something both funny and indecent. There was a war going on in Vietnam that seemed to have no end (at least not a victorious one). Girls often greeted soldiers who came from Indochina not as heroes who fought for democracy, but as child killers. Something big could bring back to Americans a sense of dignity and pride in the “freest homeland in the world.” Flight to the Moon or Mars, for example. Or the world's tallest twin towers.
Difficult construction
The overall project belonged to Minoru Yamasaki, by that time already a famous architect. Behind the external laconic outlines of the buildings, a very complex content was discerned. Even in demonstrative sameness, a feeling of power was assumed, as if saying: “If necessary, we will build more!” Digging of the pit began in 1966. Actually, Manhattan is a rocky island, and all its skyscrapers are built on a naturally solid foundation. The Twin Towers were an exception; they were built on soft ground. The second problem concerned the creation of infrastructure. You don’t need to be a specialist to understand the complexity of the task of wiring and replacing communications in a busy metropolis. Here we can block traffic on a certain street for a year, but in New York this is unacceptable: both roads and crossings must work. And one more circumstance complicated the construction process - the subway station, where passengers boarded underground trains going to New Jersey. A new terminal had to be created, but the old one worked all this time.
Some numbers
Now about the numbers and quantities that American builders love to list when talking about their achievements. More than a million square meters of soil were removed and, of course, dug up before that. Each of the mounting wall blocks, made of steel, weighed 22 tons and had the height of a four-story building. The total weight of metal used in the construction of the complex was 200,000 tons. No stone masonry was used. The elevators (there were 239 of them) lifted people and goods to a height of one hundred and ten floors at a speed of 8.5 m/s, and their shafts were designed in such a way that they enhanced the rigidity of the entire scheme. Numerous financial difficulties also had to be overcome, but ultimately the first skyscraper was completely completed by 1971, and in 1973 both twin towers were solemnly put into operation. Their death in 2001 demonstrates the helplessness that sometimes the most developed intelligence and boundless diligence experience in the face of brutal violence. The only consolation is the invincibility of intellect and hard work - these best
