Two planes hit World Trade Center September 11, 2001 Posted: 9:32 PM HKT (1332 GMT) NEW YORK (CNN) -- In what President Bush called a terrorist attack, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers on Tuesday, leaving them both in flames from explosions in a terrifying scene as black clouds of smoke billowed over Manhattan. About 18 minutes after the first plane hit the northern tower, a second plane slammed into the southern tower, erupting into a huge fireball. The harrowing images were caught in live video. Live pictures showed a gaping hole on the side of the northern building, several stories down from the top. Black smoke was billowing from at least two sides. The second crash hit the second tower several stories lower than the first in a huge burst of flame. Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, was in an office near the World Trade Center towers at the time of the first crash. He witnessed the crash. "It was a jet, looked like a two-engine jet," Murtagh said. "It looked like maybe a 737." Murtagh said he saw the plane "teetering back and forth, wingtip to wingtip" before the plane smashed into the side of the building. Jeanne Yurman witnessed the explosion that followed the crash. "At first it was like leaflets," she said, describing the debris that fell to the ground. "There was tons of debris and it continues to fall out." Yurman said she did not see the plane. ********************** Yohanes Sulaiman Department of Political Science The Ohio State University 2043 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall Columbus, OH 43210-1373 Phone: Office: (614) 292-3627 Home: (614) 268-4480 http://psweb.sbs.ohio-state.edu/grads/ ICQ: #27640045 "Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, that where law ends, tyranny begins!" William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (1708-78)
