25 haunting images that show what 9/11 was really like as the attacks unfolded

The trauma of 9/11 still lingers 25 years on from the attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., that left nearly 3,000 people dead.

Images of the day’s terrible events, taken as they unfolded — as first one, and then a second, hijacked passenger airliner were crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, before a third struck the Pentagon and a fourth crash-landed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought the hijackers for control of the cockpit —provide a devastating record of what transpired on a quiet early autumn day a quarter-century ago.

Many of those pictures illustrate the human cost of what proved to be one of the most lethal terrorist plots in history — the fear on the faces of those fleeing for their lives, the exhaustion of the rescue workers battling to save everyone they could and the despair of those searching frantically for loved ones still missing among the rubble.

Later, people found hope in other photographs — of crowds gathered for vigils, debris of being cleared and of citizens attempting to rebuild both their own lives and the city around them.

These images, viewed by millions around the globe in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, helped us to understand that the date had been one on which the course of history changed forever, not just for Americans, but for the entire world.

When the hijacked passenger planes struck the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center, those inside the buildings were forced to hang on for dear life, creating some of the most lasting and harrowing spectacles of the day.

In all, 2,016 people who worked in the two buildings were killed.

In the image above, similarly shot by several photographers, office workers are visible trapped in the uppermost floors of the North Tower, the first struck — by American Airlines Flight 11 — hanging out of windows because of the intense smoke and heat. The jet smashed into floors 93 to 99, effectively trapping any survivors of the impact at 8:46 am until the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 am.

George W Bush, a president less than nine months into the job, was famously reading a storybook to a class of elementary school students in Sarasota, Florida, when he was briefed about the attack by his chief of staff, Andrew Card.

“A second plane has hit the second tower,” Card told him. “America is under attack.”

Bush waited seven minutes for the reading to finish before getting up and later explained that he did not react intentionally.

“I made the decision not to jump up… and leave the classroom… I didn’t want to rattle the kids. I wanted to project a sense of calm,” he later recalled in a National Geographic documentary.

The World Trade Center’s North Tower was hit first, followed by a second plane striking its South Tower at 9:03 am, 17 minutes later.

As soon as the second tower was hit, there could be no doubt that America was under attack and the first impact had not been a tragic aviation accident.

Passersby were forced to flee the scene in panic as debris from the attack collapsed onto the street below.

The collisions caused the two towers to catch fire, the all-devouring flames feeding off the planes’ jet fuel and eating into the skyscraper’s raw materials, fatally weakening its infrastructure.

After approximately an hour of burning, the buildings began to collapse, raining down glass and steel onto downtown Manhattan.

Most of the footage captured of the planes colliding into the Big Apple landmark were of the second plane.

The first crash came as such a shock, few cameras were pointing at it.

Residents and tourists visiting New York had little idea where to turn to seek refuge as they ran from the billowing smoke, raging fire and falling debris plummeting towards them.

People in the immediate vicinity, like this man, were left covered in ash and dust.

The rescue operation began almost immediately and the last survivor was not pulled from the rubble until 27 hours after the towers fell, that person having spent more than a day buried alive.

New York is often the focal point of 9/11 memorials but was not the only location targeted by the al-Qaeda militants who hijacked the planes.

The Pentagon, home of the Department of Defense in Washington, was also a target and was hit at 9.37 am that morning.

Back in New York, and half an hour after the first tower fell, the second began to crumble, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

Clouds of smoke darkened the air as people raced for their lives, sought out the injured and tried to process what had happened.

Those at street level had further cause for panic as they feared there could be further plane attacks to come.

They simply could not know what might come next and the uncertainty only served to heighten their terror.

New York firefighter Gerard McGibbon was one of the fearless rescue workers who ran towards danger that day.

He would later help the victims of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 before passing away in 2021, aged just 61, leaving behind a wife, Diana, and three children, who hailed him as a hero in their obituary.

Marcy Borders worked as a bank teller at the Bank of America. After this picture of her emerged, she was given the nickname “the Dust Lady” and gained international attention.

Borders carried significant trauma after 9/11. In 2014, she died of stomach cancer, aged just 42, which she believed may have been a result of the dust and debris she was covered in after the attack.

Survivor Edward Fine worked on the 79th floor of the North Tower.

Ten years after the attack, he was quoted as saying: “I had no idea the photo was being taken but it became an iconic image. One picture editor told me it symbolized the resilience of the American businessman.”

Ambulances were deployed to the scene as soon as the attack was confirmed, according to documents later published by City Hall.

Smoke was said to be seen all across the lower half of Manhattan as the day progressed.

According to City Hall, 91,000 rescue and recovery personnel were needed to clear up the destruction.

A process was later set up to allow them to claim compensation for any health issues incurred during their work.

Firefighters were integral to the clear-up effort and encountered many tragic stories.

Lorisa Taylor, a woman found dead in the wreckage, for instance, was later revealed to have spent the previous evening celebrating her seventh wedding anniversary with her husband Frank.

She was 31, had three children and worked in insurance at Marsh and McLennan.

According to New York Magazine, 1.8 million tons of debris were removed in the nine months it took to clear the scene.

The Winter Garden, a shopping center near the towers, sustained a considerable amount of damage. However, it also provided a vital escape route for many fleeing the disaster, according to The New York Times.

The retail facility was first opened in 1988, so had only stood for 13 years.

Out of the nearly 3,000 people that died in the attack, 412 were emergency workers such as firefighters and police officers.

According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, 10 different law enforcement agencies suffered losses.

St Paul’s Episcopal Church lies across the street from the World Trade Center and its officials were amazed to find it unscathed from the attacks, according to its website.

Its miraculous survival led to it serving as a headquarters for the relief effort, a place to receive and dispense donations to those in need and for responders to take breaks from the devastation outside.

The Rev. Mychal Judge, the FDNY’s chaplain, was one of the 343 serving members of the New York Fire Department who lost their lives on 9/11.

According to The Irish Times, he was the son of Irish Catholic immigrants who first arrived in Brooklyn during the Great Depression.

In the immediate hours after the attack, it was unclear how many people were missing and unaccounted for.

According to NBC News, reporting 15 years on from the attacks, some 40 percent of people who were presumed dead that day had not had been identified yet, totaling 1,113 victims.

However, as late as September 2021, progress was still being made on the issue, with more people identified by local authorities, according to reports.

The site where the World Trade Center once stood is now known as Ground Zero and memorializes the events of that infamous day.