9/11 report from the ground: Smoke, shock spread over New York | The Hindu Archives

September 11, 2001, has gone down in history as the most devastating terror attack on one of the most powerful nations, which had ramifications across the globe. In a deadly series of blows, terrorists crashed two flights into the World Trade Center that brought down the twin 110-storey towers. The Hindu correspondent Sridhar Krishnaswami witnessed the horrifying events that unfolded in the New York City and extensively covered the attack aftermath from the ground.

Also read | 25 years after 9/11: What is at Ground Zero where the Twin Towers once stood

His article ‘Smoke, shock spread over New York’, appeared on the frontpage of the newspaper the next day, captured the chaotic atmosphere on the streets even as both people and law enforcement agencies were stumped by the kind of coordination and precision the terrorist acts had been executed on the U.S. soil.

On the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we reproduce the original article.

Smoke, shock spread over New York

The scene is truly tense in this city which has had its share of terrorism eight years ago. In 1993 an attack on the World Trade Center left six dead and more than 1000 injured. But this time around, no one is even tempted to make a guess. The twin towers of the World Trade Center are gone; only smoke is filling the air and one that can be seen miles away.

People run from the collapse of one of the twin towers at the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Thousands are moving away from the scene which the authorities have blocked to facilitate rescue efforts. And with the nation’s airports shut down, thousands are stranded and the authorities are trying to talk people into getting out of Lower Manhattan. People are milling around television sets in hotel lobbies or listening to radios on street corners. Some of the shops in this busy part of town that hardly goes to sleep have downed their shutters. And telephones and cell phones do not seem to be working. The frustration is very visible as one strolls down the street. In a time when roadside telephone booths seemed to be a thing of the past, there are actually lines of people wanting to use them, if a connection could be made. The hotel lines are not any different.

With the Brooklyn bridge in the foreground, a plane explodes after hitting the second tower of the World Trade Center as the other tower burns, in New York on September 11, 2001.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

If the authorities in Washington D.C. have declared a State of Emergency and called out the army to patrol sensitive areas, the National Guard in New York has got the call to augment the 40,000 police and 15,000 fire fighters. What has stunned intelligence and law enforcement agencies, as also the common man, is the kind of coordination and precision the terrorist acts had been executed. In a span of 18 minutes two planes rammed the World Trade Centre; shortly thereafter the Pentagon was hit. And at least two other civilian aircraft went down, for reasons that are now being determined. At least 110 people are said to have died in these two crashes.

Also read | 9/11: How The Hindu covered the terror attacks on USA

The first impression here and elsewhere is where intelligence went wrong; and some are already talking about the colossal intelligence failure. There will be a lot of soul searching on what it was that actually went wrong. Equally stunning is that terrorists have been able to target the actual nerve centres of the government, the Pentagon in particular.

For a long time, the worst case scenario planning was a group of terrorists crashing or blowing up a plane filled with deadly explosives over a crowded city. Very close to this happened in New York on Tuesday.