As a shocked world awaits further reports on the apparent terrorist attacks that have hit both New York and Washington DC on Tuesday, New Yorkers are struggling to process the horrific scenes they’re living through.
“There are queues for the cashpoints and the shops are all closed,” reports a British design worker living in Manhattan. “People are all on the streets just hanging out, unsure of what to do with themselves. There isn’t a script for something like this.”
“The cell phone networks are down,” reports another New York resident. “Every pay phone has a line of ten people…It’s like a scene out of Independence Day. People don’t understand how this could happen.”
The mayhem began early this morning, Eastern Standard Time. Two hijacked passenger planes carrying 157 people crashed into the upper floors of the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, New York, in the heart of the financial district. The first crash occurred around 8:45am; the second 18 minutes later. The world famous Twin Towers subsequently collapsed, trapping what could have been thousands.
“The most horrific part was actually watching the building come down because it just didn’t register,” reports one source. “We could see people jumping.”
“There was a stampede up all the avenues on the West Side,” said one witness. “People were hysterical, saying ‘We’re going to die’… A huge cloud of smoke and dust came up the avenue, looking like it was going to engulf somebody.”
New York hospitals have been flooded with casualties and medical centres are calling for blood donations. Burn and laceration reports are extensive. There have been no reports on fatalities, though one can only imagine the extent of the devastation.
“I have a sense it’s a horrendous number of lives lost,” says New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“Where do we go from here?” wonders one New Yorker who works in the financial district. “How do we move on?”
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
