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[11 Sep 2001|03:18pm] |
BIG DAY
UPDATE
NEW YORK (CNN) -- In an apparently coordinated
terrorist attack against the United States, four commercial
passenger jets crashed on Tuesday, three of them into significant
landmarks.
• American Airlines Flight 11, carrying 81
passengers and 11 crew members, slammed into the north tower of the
World Congress Center in Manhattan shortly before 9 a.m. About 15
minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles
crashed into the south tower.
• UA Flight 175 was carrying
56 passengers and 9 crew members. Both towers eventually collapsed
in a shower of debris and plume of thick dust.
• A half an
hour after the second crash, American Flight 77 took off from
Washington, D.C.'s Dulles Airport en route to San Francisco, but
crashed into the Pentagon instead. Less than an hour after the third
crash, United Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, with
38 passengers and 7 crew aboard.
• The FBI said it believes
all four planes were hijacked.
• The Pentagon, the White
House, the State Department, the Justice Department, the Capitol,
the CIA and all other government buildings in Washington are
evacuated.
• President Bush calls the crashes "a national
tragedy." Later in the day, Bush issues a statement from Barksdale
AFB near Shreveport, Louisiana. "Make no mistake: The United States
will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly
acts."
• In the first-ever national ground stop of aircraft,
all flights nationwide are stopped at their departure airports.
• International flights are initially diverted to Canada;
FAA says later, however, that 22 U.S.-bound international flights
will be allowed to land.
• Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the
Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, says in reaction to the terror
attacks that "we want to tell the American children that Afghanistan
feels your pain and we hope that the courts find justice."
•
Mullah Omar, the Taliban spiritual leader, condemns the attacks and
denies that Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire who has been
blamed for attacks against U.S. interests and is believed to be in
Afghanistan, was responsible.
• In New York, more than
10,000 rescue personnel rush to the scene. Evacuation of lower
Manhattan begins.
• Israel evacuates all of its missions
around the world.
• The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta is evacuated. CDC prepares bioterrorism teams
in case they become necessary.
• Philadelphia landmarks are
evacuated.
• In Chicago, the Sears Tower is evacuated; United
Nations in New York is evacuated.
• Two aircraft carriers
and five other ships are deployed along the East Coast of the United
States, and two aircraft carriers go to New York area, all from
Norfolk, Virginia.
• The New York Port Authority closes all
bridges and tunnels into the city.
• U.S. stock markets
close after the New York attacks.
• NATO sends home all
non-essential personnel from its Brussels, Belgium,
headquarters.
• The Immigration and Naturalization Service
puts the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada on highest state of
alert.
• Los Angeles International Airport is
evacuated.
• Disney closes its parks in Orlando, Florida, and
Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
• FEMA implements plan
established for such events: FBI leads investigation, and Justice
Deptartment heads crisis management.
• Three Palestinian
groups -- Hamas, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of
Palestine and Islamic Jihad -- deny responsibility for the attacks,
but blame U.S. policies in the Mideast.
• Washington, D.C.
and San Francisco declare states of emergency.
• A Delta
flight makes emergency landing in Cleveland and all passengers are
safely evacuated. Federal officials search the plane for a possible
bomb. |
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angry
