Remembering 9/11

Compiled by Hans Ngala

Today marks 23 years since 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the East Coast of the United States to California. Here are some quick facts about that day:

• Some 2,996 people lost their lives in the attacks
• There were 8 children who died in the attacks
• All 19 terrorists who hijacked the planes also died
• Michael Jackson narrowly escaped death at the World Trade Center. According to Michael Jackson’s older brother, Jermaine, the King of Pop’s schedule on 11 September, 2001 included a morning meeting at the World Trade Center. Luckily, the musician overslept and missed the meeting, thus saving his life!
• Actor Mark Wahlberg also narrowly escaped death at the site. On the day of the attacks, Mark Wahlberg was scheduled to fly on American Airlines Flight 11 – the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. Fortunately for Wahlberg, he and his friends made a last-minute decision not to fly to Los Angeles, where the plane was headed, but to a Toronto film festival instead.
• One of the hijacked planes crashed close to the US military headquarters, The Pentagon, as the hijackers were attempting to crash the plane into the Pentagon
• According to the black box of the plane that crashed near The Pentagon, some of the passengers fought with the terrorists and caused the crash, thereby saving many lives on the ground
• After the attacks, anti-Muslim sentiments soared and have lingered on to this day in the US
• One of the towers burned for 42 minutes before collapsing and the second tower burned for 56 minutes before collapsing
• After the towers collapsed, the ruins kept burning for 100 days
• A mysterious crossing of metal formed a cross in the middle of the spot where the twin towers used to stand. It became known as The World Trade Center cross