An eyewitness to the airborne terrorist attacks against the twin World Trade Center towers in New York City this morning said he’s sure at least one of the commercial jetliners was intentionally steered into the 110-story structures.
Ted Moran, an independent contractor from New Jersey who had traveled to New York City this morning for a job on Wall Street, said he was inside the trade center tower that was struck first.
“I was near the top of the escalator on the ground floor when the first plane hit,” Moran told WND. “It didn’t sound like an explosion. It sounded like a bell or something, reverberating throughout the building. But I knew something was wrong.”
At that, Moran said he decided to go outside to see what had happened, when he discovered falling paper and debris. “It looked like snow.”
Then, “as I was walking down Washington Street, I began to see aircraft seat parts, shoes and even a little doll.”
After traveling a few more minutes, “I began to hear the engine noises of the second plane,” Moran said. “It looked like it just came out of nowhere. I looked up and I saw it just coming right in. Then it just turned to the [left] side, into the building. It went halfway in, then blew. … The tail was still sticking out when it turned into a fireball.”
Moran said he made for the Staten Island Ferry in a bid to go back home following the incident. “The smoke and dust and everything came down to the ferry at Battery Park” after he watched both towers collapse.
While on the ferry, Moran said he heard about the attack against the Pentagon.
“I saw people jump” from the towers, Moran said, pausing. “I still have this plane’s image in my mind.”
By the end of the day, New York City emergency medical and fire personnel, along with NYPD officers and state and federal emergency management officials, continued to work tirelessly to control fires still burning in the collapsed World Trade Center buildings, as well as buildings nearby.
U.S. officials say a total of four commercial aircraft were hijacked and used as “guided missiles” against the trade center and the Pentagon. Two were sent against the WTC; one against the Pentagon; and the fourth crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Officials said they believe the fourth plane was heading towards Camp David – site of the signing of a number of Israeli-Arab peace accords.
American Airlines Flight 11, from Boston to LA, with 92 persons on board, was the first to crash into the World Trade Center at about 8:50 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175, from Boston to LA, was the second plane to crash into the trade center, about 20 minutes later. American Airlines Flight 77, from Washington, D.C., to LA, with 64 passengers and crew aboard, crashed into the Pentagon about an hour after the trade center attacks. United Airlines Flight 93, from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
