Casualties of the September 11 attacks

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Explosion following the crash of Flight 175 into the South Tower of the World Trade Center
Rescue workers climb through rubble and smoke at the World Trade Center site, and an American flag flies at left
A portion of the Pentagon charred and collapsed, exposing the building's interior
A fragment of Flight 93's metal fuselage with two windows, sitting in a forest
Illuminated water falls into the square 9/11 Memorial south pool at sunset, and glass-clad One World Trade Center and other skyscrapers rise in the background

The

North Tower and around a thousand from the South Tower. Two hundred miles southwest in Arlington County, Virginia, another 125 were killed in the Pentagon.[5][6][7] The remaining 265 fatalities included the ninety-two passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 11, the sixty-five aboard United Airlines Flight 175, the sixty-four on American Airlines Flight 77 and the forty-four who boarded United Airlines Flight 93. The attack on the World Trade Center's North Tower alone[b] made the September 11 attacks the deadliest act of terrorism in human history.[9]

Most of those who perished were civilians except for 343 members of the New York City Fire Department and 71 law enforcement officers who died in the World Trade Center and on the ground in New York City;[10] a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer who died when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania;[11] 55 military personnel who died at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia;[12] and the 19 terrorists who died on board the four aircraft. At least 102 countries lost citizens in the attacks.[13][14][15]

Initially, a total of 2,603 victims were confirmed to have been killed at the World Trade Center site.[16] In 2007, the New York City medical examiner's office began to add people who died of illnesses caused by exposure to dust from the site to the official death toll. The first such victim was a woman, a civil rights lawyer, who had died from a chronic lung condition in February 2002.[17] In September 2009, the office added a man who died in October 2008,[18] and in 2011, a male accountant who had died in December 2010.[19] This raised the number of victims from the World Trade Center site to 2,606,[4] and the overall 9/11 death toll to 2,996.

As of August 2013, medical authorities concluded that 1,140 people who worked, lived, or studied in

FBI nor the New York City government officially recorded the casualties of the 9/11 attacks in their crime statistics for 2001, with the FBI stating in a disclaimer that "the number of deaths is so great that combining it with the traditional crime statistics will have an outlier effect that falsely skews all types of measurements in the program's analyses."[23][24]

Evacuation

Most tall buildings in the United States at the time were not designed for complete evacuation during a crisis, even after the

emergency preparedness bag with them.[27]

Both 110-story towers housed three stairwells in the central cores of each. On maintenance floors containing lift and ventilation machinery (such as some of the floors where Flight 175 struck the South Tower), the northern and southern stairwells entered corridors extending north and south to stairwells that bypassed the heavy equipment. The three stairwells―labeled A, B, and C―were as tall as the buildings, with two built to 44 inches (110 cm) in width and the third being 56 inches (140 cm) wide. In the North Tower the stairs were approximately 70 ft apart, compared to the distance of 200 ft between the stairwells in the South Tower.[28]

Ground zero and surrounding area as seen from directly above depicting where the two planes impacted the towers
A map showing the attacks on the World Trade Center; the planes are not drawn to scale.

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, media reports suggested that tens of thousands might have been killed. Estimates of the number of people present in the Twin Towers that morning range between 14,000 and 19,000. The National Institute of Standards and Technology determined that approximately 17,400 civilians were in the World Trade Center complex at the time of the attacks.[29] Turnstile counts from the Port Authority indicate that the number of people typically in the Twin Towers by 10:30 am was 14,154.[30]

Almost all of the deaths in the Twin Towers occurred on floors trapped by the plane impacts, but it is unknown how many people were in those floors when the towers were struck. The available data suggests that between 1,344[31] and 1,426[32] people occupied floors 92–110 of the North Tower when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the skyscraper at 08:46, none of whom survived. Somewhere in the region of 599[33] to 690[34] people were present on floors 77–110 of the South Tower when it was hit by United Airlines Flight 175 at 09:03, with only 18 survivors.

In interviews with 271 survivors, researchers in 2008 found that only about 8.6% had fled as soon as the alarm was raised while about 91.4% stayed behind to wait for more information or carrying out at least one additional task (collecting belongings/calling a family member). The interviews also showed that 82% of those who were evacuating stopped at least once during their way down, due to congestion on the stairs, to take a rest, or due to environmental conditions (smoke/debris/fire/water).[35] Another hindrance to the evacuation of the World Trade Center was that as the planes struck, the force of the impact caused the buildings to shift enough to jam doors in their frames and stairwells to become blocked by broken wall boards,[36] trapping dozens of people throughout the buildings, mostly on the floors closer to the impact zones. Communication breakdowns also hampered the evacuation of workers as one survivor recounted calling 911 multiple times from the South Tower only to be put on hold twice, as 911 operators had a lack of awareness about what was happening and were overwhelmed with the amount of calls, at times repeating incorrect information. Communication issues were also seen as first responders were utilizing different radio channels to communicate, their frequencies were overwhelmed or they had been off duty and responded without their radios.[26]

North Tower

Within moments of Flight 11's impact, the Port Authority issued a complete evacuation of the North Tower, an order that only those beneath the 92nd floor were capable of heeding. Nonetheless, the roughly 8,000 people who could descend were left facing a harrowing scenario. Neither tower had been designed to facilitate a mass evacuation, and each of the twins only had three stairwells descending to the ground level. For anyone higher than the 91st floor, escape was impossible, with one victim relaying to 911 after the first plane hit that the stairs were inaccessible for the 106th floor.[37] A computer modeling study done after the attacks, projected that it would take about 1 hour and 27 minutes ± 2 minutes for 8,239 people to evacuate the tower. The modeling also suggested that if Stairwell B had remained intact through the entire building all 1,049 projected survivors could have evacuated with an additional 2 minutes to the total time.[38] At least 77 people were freed on the 88th through 90th floors by a team of Port Authority officers: construction manager Frank De Martini, building inspector Pablo Ortiz, engineer Mak Hanna, environmental coordinator Pete Negron and Assistant General Manager Carlos S. da Costa.[36] Just minutes after the plane crash, emergency responders arrived at the World Trade Center and began organizing teams to assist in the evacuation of the North Tower.[39]

Two survivors are covered in dust after the collapse of the towers.

Many people began to evacuate via the stairs on their own, while others chose to wait for instructions from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Others who chose to evacuate were also pushed into action by loved ones who had been able to contact them.[37] As evacuees descended the staircases in the North Tower, they were directed to descend to the concourse level beneath the World Trade Center complex, where the mall was located. Others who managed to escape credit the "Survivors Staircase," an outdoor staircase that survived the disaster, and World Trade Center workers who knew escape routes. One survivor stated, "Between the 11th floor and the 9th floor, we wound through this maze. When we got to the plaza level we were walking through and there was one emergency light on. There was water up to our calves. All of a sudden there was a voice. We saw someone in a miner hat. He opened the door and said 'Just keep going.'"[40]

South Tower

The refusal to order an immediate full-scale evacuation of the South Tower during the 17 minutes after the North was struck as the most widely criticized decision made on the day.[41]

Meanwhile, in the South Tower, almost all of its roughly 8,600 occupants knew immediately that something serious just happened in the building next door. The sound of the crashing airliner was heard by well over 4,000 people. Some who had glimpsed Flight 11 just before it impacted the North Tower thought it was lined up to strike their building, and the fireballs from the crash immediately thereafter were witnessed by countless employees on sides facing the North Tower. The blast shattered windows on the South Tower's 95th floor,[42] while the tower's northern and western façades were battered by debris.[43] As the top of the South Tower became enveloped by the thick smoke pouring southeast, many people witnessed desperate office workers jumping from the tower burning opposite.[44] The disaster in the North Tower was even physically perceived by a number of people in the South Tower. Survivors from the South Tower reported feeling their building shake as the first plane crashed into its twin, and smoke from the North Tower began seeping into the South Tower through ventilation ducts.[45] Those at the same altitude as the fires burning in the North Tower could feel the extreme heat radiating into their floors.[46] Media coverage, phone calls, and word of mouth quickly alerted anyone else to the seriousness of what was happening. Half personally believed their lives were in danger.[47]

Because of what happened to the North Tower, many people in the South Tower chose to evacuate as a precaution. However, the major hindrance to this process was that for the 17 minutes between the impacts of Flight 11 and Flight 175, it had not yet been determined that a terrorist attack was unfolding. The initial assumption by most was that the first crash had merely been an accident,[48] and even those who suspected it was a deliberate attack based on its flying were uncertain. For this reason, the Port Authority in the South Tower did not initiate a full evacuation of the building, instead deciding to spread the word via the South Tower's intercom system and security guards for workers to stay put and remain in their offices.[49] A deliveryman for the South Tower told reporters he decided to leave following the first crash, and on his way out he heard a voice over the intercom declaring that: "The building is secure. The safest place is inside; stay calm and do not leave." Others who ignored the message were met with officials at the lobby who told them to return to their respective floors.[50] In a radio conversation recorded within three minutes of the first impact, the director of the South Tower told his counterpart in the North Tower that he was not going to order an evacuation until given the all-clear by "the boss from the fire department or somebody."[51] This was done in order to avoid overcrowding on the plaza and concourse levels, which was feared would slow the evacuation and rescue operations in the North Tower.[52]

Despite the announcements, thousands continued to evacuate the South Tower. More than 3,500 people were present on-site between the 77th and 110th floors,[53] including at least 1,100 employees of AON Insurance (floors 92 and 98–105) and over 700 people working for Fiduciary Trust (floors 90 and 94–97).[54] Both companies had offices directly across from the North Tower's impact zone, and executives working for the two firms did not hesitate to order an evacuation of their offices immediately following the first impact, allowing more than 80% of the employees from each company to get to safety before the South Tower was struck.[55] Lower down, the offices of Fuji Bank (floors 79–82), Euro Brokers (floor 84)[56] and CSC (floor 87) were also evacuated,[57] the latter of which avoided suffering any casualties in the South Tower. Executives such as Eric Eisenberg, who personally made the decision to evacuate AON's offices, instructed their employees to take the stairs down to the 78th floor Skylobby, where they could take an express elevator to the ground level and exit the building safely. Within a window of 17 minutes, between 8:46 a.m. and 9:03 a.m., an estimated 2,900 people had gotten below the 77th floor of the South Tower,[58] while between 599 and 690 did not.[59][60]

By 8:57 a.m., officials working for the FDNY and NYPD opined that the ongoing disaster in the North Tower had made the entire WTC complex unsafe and requested that the South Tower be evacuated,[61] advice that took an additional six minutes to be implemented. By 9:02 a.m., an announcement was made gently giving workers in the South Tower the option to leave.[62] Sean Rooney, a victim who worked for AON Risk Management on the 98th floor, was speaking on the phone to his wife seconds before impact, allowing some of the announcement to be heard in the background: "May I have your attention, please. Repeating this message: the situation occurred in Building 1. If conditions warrant on your floor, you may wish to start an orderly evacuation."[25]

Pentagon

An aerial view of the Pentagon following the attacks

Since the Pentagon was struck after the World Trade Center, many who worked there did not think the attack would extend past New York City. A media relations specialist who was working in the building at the time recounted years later that she told a coworker, "This is the safest place to be in the world right now."[63] Another was on the phone with his wife and her sixth-grade class when the plane struck, stating the whole building felt like it had been completely lifted off the foundations. He hung up after stating, "We've been bombed, I have to go" before immediately starting to evacuate. Uncertainty about the type of attack led to many being cautious in evacuating with at least one security guard warning of potential shooters laying in wait, to gun down evacuees.[64]

World Trade Center Hotel

The Marriott World Trade Center on May 15, 2001, approximately four months prior to the attacks

World Trade Center 3 was also known as the World Trade Center Hotel, the Vista Hotel, and the Marriott Hotel. During evacuations of the two larger towers, this 22-story hotel was used as an evacuation runway for about 1,000 people who were evacuated from the area.[65] The guests and others who were evacuated through the hotel were guided by hotel staff through the hotel's bar and outside onto Liberty Street.[66] A policeman was stationed holding the door between the Marriott and Liberty Street, and would periodically hold up the line due to concerns about falling debris or bodies.[67] A paramedic helping in the evacuation process remembered the air being so hot and thick that he had trouble breathing and difficulty seeing, but could hear the PASS device alarms of firefighters that had collapsed and needed assistance.[63]

A majority of the registered 940 guests at the hotel began to evacuate after alarms were raised due to a piece of one of the plane's landing gear landing on the top floor of the pool.[65] Some did not immediately do so, with at least one guest recounting that he woke up to the first plane hitting the North Tower and went back to bed only to be awoken by the impact of the plane hitting the South Tower. He then watched the news and took a shower, got dressed, and gathered his belongings before evacuating after watching the South Tower collapse.[68] The delay was in part to many guests being unable to see the damage done to the North Tower from any vantage point on the grounds of the Marriott.[67]

Surrounding area

United States Coast Guard patrolling the New York Harbor with the impact area of World Trade Center in sight, September 11, 2001.

Once both towers had been struck, the order to evacuate the North Tower quickly spread to encompass not only the entire World Trade Center complex, but most high rise buildings in Lower Manhattan and surrounding areas as well. The evacuation of employees from the North and South towers continued past the plaza and through the concourse. Evacuees from the North Tower were directed through the underground shopping mall, from where they exited the complex onto

Church Street. Evacuees from the South Tower were directed elsewhere to prevent congestion; they were sent across the covered footbridge over West Street to the World Financial Center or to 4 World Trade Center and out onto Liberty Street.[citation needed] Not all evacuees were connected to World Trade Centers, with students from Stuyvesant High School, the Borough of Manhattan Community College, tourists, residents of the area with their pets and others, also involved in the evacuation process.[69]

To relieve congestion within the city and clear the evacuees and civilians, boats and ferries were used to further evacuate Lower Manhattan.[70] Some of the boats were a part of the Coast Guard, others were civilian, company or state-owned, that acted independently or after seeking the permission of the Coast Guard, who initially instructed vessels to stand by and then issued a request for all available boats to participate.[71] One participating vessels crew later recounted the call from Lt. Michael Day of the Coast Guard stating; "All available boats....This is the United States Coast Guard…. Anyone wanting to help with the evacuation of Lower Manhattan report to Governors Island." In total the water evacuation of lower Manhattan moved about 500,000 during the day.[69]

Disabled individuals

On the day of the attacks there were a number of disabled individuals in the World Trade Center, and there was a revised evacuation plan in place after the 1993 attack as many had been told to wait for rescuers and some waited up to nine hours.

quadriplegic, and Tina Hansen were able to evacuate, as Abruzzo was carried by coworkers from the 69th floor down in an evacuation chair and indicated that it took them about ninety minutes to reach ground level. The chairs were some of the about 125 that were purchased after the 1993 bombing, however there was varying levels of training and communication about them.[74] Others such as Michael Hingson, who was born blind, were able to evacuate from the 78th floor of the North Tower due with the help of his guide dog Roselle.[75]

Survivors