September 11th. 2001.
Nineteen Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial jet airliners. The first and second plane crashed in the Twin Towers in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the building. Both buildings fell with in two hours. Third airliner crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shankville, Pennsylvania. After some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to take control of the plane. There were no survivors from any of the flights.
At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed in the North Tower( burned for 56 minutes before collapsing), followed by United Airlines Flight 175, which hit the South Tower( burned for 102 minutes before collapsing) at 9:03 a.m. Another group of hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into The Pentagon at 9:37 am. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93 Crashed near Shankville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. Its target was thought to be either the Capital or the White House. During the hijacking of the airplanes, the hijackers used weapons to stab and kill pilots, flight attendants and the passengers. The United States attacked Afghanistan to get rid of the Taliban, who ran Al-Qaeda’s terrorists. Many other countries also strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers.
The attacks created widespread confusion among news organizations and air traffic controllers across the United States. All international civilian air traffic was banned from landing on U.S. soil for three days. Aircraft already in flight were either turned back or redirected to airports in Canada or Mexico.
There were a total of 2,996 deaths, including the 19 hijackers. The victims were as followed, 246 on the four planes, 2,606 in New York City in the towers and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon. All the deaths in the attacks were civilians except for 55 military personnel killed at the Pentagon. More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center. A total of 411 emergency workers who responded to the scene died as they attempted to rescue people and fight fires. Weeks after the attack, the estimated death toll was over 6,000. The city was only able to identify remains for about 1,600 of the victims at the World Trade Center. The medical examiner's office also collected "about 10,000 unidentified bone and tissue fragments that cannot be matched to the list of the dead". On April 2, 2010 a team of anthropology and archaeological experts began searching for human remains, human artifacts and personal items at the Fresh Kills Landfill of Staten Island. The operation was completed in June 2010 with 72 human remains found, bringing the total human remains found to 1,845. The identities of 1,629 of the 2,753 victims have been identified.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks
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