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Breaking News
A Day of Terror
Aired September 11, 2001 - 17:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: For our viewers who have just been trying to catch up on all the events that have occurred today, we're going to bring you first up to date with the latest information on a full- detailed ticktock of what has happened in the course of this day.
We'll get the latest from Ben Wedeman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 8:45 a.m. in New York. Smoke billows from the World Trade Center after a large passenger plane slammed into the north tower. Initial reports suggested it was an accident.
9:03, another airliner hits the Trade Center south tower. An explosion bursting from the building's upper floors.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center.
WEDEMAN: President Bush calls the crashes an apparent terrorist attack.
9:45, another hit. A commercial plane crashes into the Pentagon.
9:51, taking no chances, the Federal Aviation Administration grounds all takeoffs and landings, and reroutes incoming international flights to Canada. And the Pentagon soon upgrades its terrorism alert status to delta, the highest possible level.
10:00 a.m., back in New York, the Trade Center south tower crumbles to the ground.
10:29, the north tower collapses. These buildings were once the tallest in the world. Lower Manhattan, home to the city's financial district, is shrouded in smoke, dust and ash.
10:10 a.m., a half-hour earlier, United flight 93 bound from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco crashes into western Pennsylvania. Police there say initial reports suggest there were no survivors.
In Washington the departments of justice, state, treasury and defense were among those ordered evacuated, as were the Capitol and the White House. In New York, major businesses and stock exchanges were evacuated. All tunnels and bridges into and out of the city were shut down. United Nations was evacuated as a precaution. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people are feared hurt or killed in what is clearly the worst ever terrorist attack on the United States.
Ben Wedeman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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