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On Tuesday, September 11th 2001, hijackers crashed two passenger jets into the World Trade Center in New York City, toppling
the 110-story twin towers and killing all aboard the jets and an unknown number on the ground and in the building. In
a similar attack, another passenger plane struck the Pentagon, leaving a gaping gash in the nation's military hub, killing
all on board the plane and more on the ground. Within an hour, a fourth airliner went down near Pittsburgh, killing all aboard.


According to the FBI, the planes involved in the trade center crashes were American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 en route
from Boston to Los Angeles carrying 81 passengers, nine flight attendants and two pilots, and United Airlines Flight 175,
a Boeing 767 also headed from Boston to Los Angeles. Officials said the plane was carrying 56 passengers, two pilots and seven
flight attendants.


There were no immediate details available on casualties, but thousands of people work in the affected buildings 50,000 in
the World Trade Center alone. Hundreds of people were in local hospitals. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said hundreds of
firefighters were feared dead and the death count could "go into the thousands."






With black smoke billowing over the area where the World Trade Center towers once stood, city officials said the dead were
buried under several feet of soot and debris, and that machines would be need to lift the rubble to help firefighters with
the body recovery.







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The chaos began Tuesday at about 8:50 a.m. ET when a hijacked American Airlines passenger plane smashed into the 110-story
One World Trade Center, the northern tower. Then, at about 9 a.m., another jet crashed into the southern tower, Two World
Trade Center.


At about 10 a.m., the southern tower collapsed, enveloping lower Manhattan in a cloud of dust, ash and debris. A half-hour
later, the northern tower also fell in on itself and the New York City skyline was indelibly changed.






In New York, the damage continued into late Tuesday afternoon, as a third building in the World Trade Center complex, Building
7, collapsed in a plume of flames at about 5:20 p.m. Authorities had been moving people out of the area prior to the collapse,
as a fire in the lower part of the 47-floor building had made it unstable.








U.S. officials familiar with terrorist activity say there is some information that points in the direction of Osama bin Laden,
who tops the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list with a $5 million price on his head. He and his organization are high on the list of
suspects, officials say. The attacks were too complex and well-coordinated for most terrorist groups to carry off, they said.
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