9/11 Terror Attacks: Looking back at the ‘1 hour and 40 minutes’ that haunts US till date

The United States on Wednesday solemnly remembered the 2,977 lives lost in the 9/11 terror attack, which continues to cast a profound shadow over the nation. On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked, and two of them flew through the twin towers of the World Trade Center in the heart of New York City.

US presidential poll contenders, Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump met again at the 9/11 observances at the World Trade Center in New York and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.

Twenty-three years have passed since 19 terrorists, following the directions of Osama Bin Laden of the Al Qaeda terror group, hijacked four commercial aeroplanes and flew them into the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon. A fourth plane, United Flight 93, crashed in Pennsylvania.

The September 11 terror attack remains the deadliest in documented history of humanity.

A look at the 1 hour and 40 minutes of September 11

In the early hours of September 11, 2001, nineteen hijackers seized control of four commercial airliners—two Boeing 757s and two Boeing 767s.

These flights, originally heading to California, had taken off from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts; Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey; and Washington Dulles International Airport in Loudoun and Fairfax counties, Virginia.

Al Qaeda leader Mohamed Atta flew American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan at 8:46 a.m.

After North Tower was hit, in the lobby, fire chiefs set up the command post – while bodies and debris hit the ground outside, reports CNN.

Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03, the World Trade Center's South Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175.

Right before the hijacked plane was going to hit the South Tower, one Brian Sweeney, a former pilot and instructor for the United States Navy, onboard the highjacked Flight 175, called his wife and left her a message.

At 9.59 am the South Tower collapsed.

“First responders had 29 minutes to make a choice: help those trapped in the North Tower or retreat to safety before it came down as well,” witnesses recalled to CNN.

Half an hour later, at 10.28 am, the North Tower collapsed.

Both 110-story skyscrapers of the World Trade Center collapsed within an hour and forty-one minutes.

“Then the noise stopped, and I'm still alive. And I think it took a few seconds to realize that I'm going to continue living. I was so sure I was going to die,” recounted a witness, who was in the North Tower when it was hit.

The Falling Man: The "Falling Man" is a photograph by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew, capturing an unidentified individual falling from the North Tower during the September 11 attacks. Taken at 9:41 am, the image depicts the man either fleeing the fire and smoke or falling while seeking safety.

Meanwhile, American Airlines Flight 77 flew towards Washington, DC and crashed into the Pentagon at 9.37 am, causing a partial collapse.

The fourth and final aircraft, United Airlines Flight 93, was diverted towards Washington, DC, with investigators suspecting its intended target was either the US Capitol or the White House.

In response to the earlier attacks, the passengers on board resisted the hijackers, leading to the plane being forced down into a field in Stony Creek Township, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10.03 am.

According to local media accounts, eventually, the dust settled in the next few days, but the country continued to be haunted and continued to question the alleged involvement of Saudi Arabia in the September 11 attacks.

The September 11 Attacks

In the aftermath, hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic debris containing more than 2,500 contaminants and known carcinogens were spread across Lower Manhattan when the Twin Towers collapsed.