It was barely after 9 a.m. in New York City on September 11, 2001, when a second plane crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, just seventeen minutes after the first aircraft crashed on the north tower.
From that moment, there is no longer any doubt: the United States of America is the target of an attack. Moments later, President George W. Bush is notified by his chief of staff. Visiting an elementary school in Florida, the president freezes, as if stunned by the announcement.
It will take him several minutes to leave the classroom. At the same time, in New York, hundreds of people are stuck in the towers trying to escape the flames by any means possible. It is 9:30 am when, from Florida, the American president speaks for the first time.
9 hours 59
In a deluge of fire and dust, the South Tower is the first to collapse in just 10 seconds. It takes with it more than 800 people. In Manhattan, everyone flees the area, as a cloud of smoke invades the streets.
10 hours 28
It is the north tower that collapses. No less than 1,600 people, employees and firefighters who came to rescue them, are engulfed by a rain of steel. Less than 2 hours after the start of the attack, the “twin towers”, symbols of New York, do not exist. more, abandoning the city to chaos.