United States Marks 22 Years Since 9/11

New York – Today marks 22 years since 911, with Bells tolling at ground zero in New York City today.

People are gathering at memorials, firehouses, city halls, campuses and elsewhere across the U.S. to observe the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.

Close to 3,000 people were killed when hijacked planes crashed into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. At least two dozen Canadians were among them.

Nearly 240 international flights were diverted to Canadian airports, 38 of which were diverted to Gander International Airport in Newfoundland & Labrador. The small town of 10,000 people sheltered more than 6,500 stranded passengers in the days that followed Sept. 11.

At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower between floors 93 and 99 of the 110-storey building. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower between floors 77 and 85 of that building, which also stood 110 storeys tall. About half an hour later, at 9:37 a.m., United Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

The South Tower eventually collapsed at 9:59 a.m., 56 minutes after Flight 175 crashed into the building’s north face.

Minutes later, at 10:30 a.m., Flight 93 came down in Pennsylvania after passengers resisted hijackers’ attempts to crash the plane into another U.S. government building. The “9/11 Commission,” an official government report published two years after the attacks, suggested Flight 93’s original target was either the U.S. Capitol or the White House in Washington, D.C.

At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed. It was an hour and 42 minutes after Flight 11 crashed into the building’s south face.

Parts of the Pentagon collapsed about half an hour later.

That afternoon, 7 World Trade Center, another 47-storey building that wasn’t hit by a plane, collapsed after seven hours of ongoing fires due to debris from the nearby attacks.