On the morning of September 11, 2001, I witnessed the attack on the Twin Towers (World Trade Center). From atop the Brooklyn Bridge, I witnessed the collapse of the North Tower.
The largest terrorist attack ever recorded by the US left a total of 2,996 people dead, 246 on the four planes; 2,606 in New York and 125 at the Pentagon.
September 11, 2025, marks the 24th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the US, when nearly 3,000 people were killed when hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania.
Here in NY, a ceremony is held at the Memorial, where mourners gather as they do every year since the attack, for the annual reading of the names of the 2001 attack victims. They also observe a moment of silence throughout the city at 8:46 EDT (12:46 GMT), the time when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower, with a second pause at 9:03 EDT (13:03 GMT) when United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower.
More moments of silence will be observed at 9:37, when American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon; at 9:59 when the South Tower fell; at 10:03 when United Flight 93 hit the ground near Shanksville, Pennsylvania; and at 10:28 when the North Tower collapsed.
Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks, and the US-led war in Afghanistan followed.
An estimated 2,996 people died in the attack: 246 on the four planes (of which there were no survivors), 2,606 in New York, and 125 at the Pentagon.
About 11,000 firefighters suffer from World Trade Center-related illnesses, including 3,500 with cancer.
Other data indicate that the total number of deaths has grown over the years due to exposure to smoke and toxic materials released during the explosions.
About 17,400 civilians were in the WTC complex at the time of the attacks. In the Twin Towers alone, there were 14,154 people. But at least 1,366 people died because they were on the impact floor of the North Tower or above, and at least 618 in the South Tower, where evacuation had begun before the second impact.
Among the identified victims are four Brazilians: the São Paulo engineers Ivan Kyrillos Barbosa, 30 years old, and Anne Marie Sallerin, 29; the Minas Gerais engineer Sandra Fajardo Smith, 37; and the Espírito Santo engineer Nilton Fernão Cunha, 41.
The only date that no one will forget what they were doing at that exact moment.
And you? Do you remember how you found out and where you were?
ISAURA LA COUR
Journalist and radio host