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Disaster Transbian episode 42
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00:01They jumped into a second vehicle and exited the building.
00:06Ramsey Yosef went back over to New Jersey.
00:09He stood on the waterfront opposite southern Manhattan and watched what happened.
00:21And I have no doubt that he was very disappointed when the Twin Towers didn't collapse.
00:27At 12.18 p.m., World Trade Center tower number one became a tower of smoke.
00:33Hundreds of workers and visitors were first stunned by the sound of the explosion,
00:38then attacked by clouds of fumes and debris.
00:42He was searching for people and all of a sudden the floor wasn't there.
00:45It fell into a hole about 60 feet. He's got two broken legs.
00:50And I hope he's going to be all right.
00:53Firefighters tell us it was Kevin Shea who was injured two years ago.
00:57He made headlines with this daring rescue.
01:00Tonight, he may no doubt be in pain.
01:03Ramsey Yosef, aided by Mohamed A. Salameh and Mahmoud Abuhlima,
01:11began assembling the 1,500-pound urea nitrate fuel oil device in his Pomropo Avenue home in Jersey City,
01:19ready for delivery to the WTC on February 26, 1993.
01:25He ordered chemicals from his hospital room when he had been injured in a car crash,
01:31one of three accidents caused by Salameh in late 1992 and early in 1993.
01:37Speaking in code by phone on December 29, 1992, Ajaj told Yusef that he had won release of the bomb manuals,
01:48but warned Yusef that picking them up might jeopardize his business.
01:53On one book, carried by Ajaj in 1992, was a word translated by the FBI as meaning the basic rule.
02:02It was later found to be Al-Qaeda, meaning the base.
02:07During a CBS 60 Minutes interview in 2002, co-conspirator Abdul Rahman Yassin said that Yusef originally wanted to bomb Jewish neighborhoods in New York City.
02:19Yassin added that after touring Crown Heights in Williamsburg, Yusef had changed his mind.
02:27Yassin alleged that Yusef was educated in bomb making at a training camp in Pissar, Pakistan.
02:35Yusef rented a rider van and on February 26, 1993 loaded it with powerful explosives.
02:43He packed four cardboard boxes into the back of the van, each containing a mixture of paper bags, newspapers, urea, and nitric acid.
02:53Next to them, he placed three red metal cylinders of compressed hydrogen.
02:59Four long containers of nitroglycerin were loaded into the center of the van with Atlas Rockmaster blasting caps connected to each.
03:09The van was driven into the garage of the World Trade Center, where it exploded.
03:15Using his Pakistani passport, Yusef escaped from the United States hours later.
03:21It is believed that he fled to Iraq.
03:23As a result of the bombing, the FBI added Yusef as the 436th person on its 10 most wanted fugitives list on April 21, 1993.
03:35I haven't even showed you the hole yet.
03:38We're getting there.
03:40Okay.
03:42Now we're in the nasty area.
03:44This is where it really got back.
03:47Look at these cars.
03:49Look at how it just folded everything up.
03:52Just everything folded, twisted, crumpled.
03:56Blasted.
03:58The
04:00blood
04:09Now we've Campaign
04:14When you go to me on a summer bridge
04:25Keep me warm in your love with me so clearly
04:29When it's me you need to show
04:33How deep is your love is your love
04:36How deep is your love
04:39I really mean to love
04:42Cause we're living in a world of those
04:47Breaking us down
04:49When they all should let us be
04:53We belong to you and me
04:58How deep is your love?
05:06How deep is your love?
05:09I really need to learn
05:12Cause we're living in a world of those
05:16Breaking us down
05:19When they all should let us be
05:42We're living in a world of those
05:45They actually feel like we are
05:47And we both may not miss
05:48We're living in a world of those
05:50That we are living in a world of-
06:00Are you ready to tell me?
06:19Oh, my God.
06:49Are you ready to tell me?
06:55After returning to Pakistan in February 1993, Youssef went into hiding.
07:01That summer, he allegedly took up a contract to assassinate the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto,
07:09which was initiated by members of SIPA-e Sahaba.
07:13The plot failed when Youssef and Abdul-Hakim Murad were interrupted by police outside Bhutto's residence.
07:22Youssef decided to abort the bombing, and it blew up as he was trying to recover the device.
07:28He escaped and went into hiding during the investigation.
07:31Philippine Airlines Flight 434, sometimes referred to as PAL 434 or PR 434, was a flight on December 11, 1994,
07:43from Cebu to Tokyo on a Boeing 747-283B that was seriously damaged by a bomb killing one passenger and damaging vital control systems,
07:56although the plane was in a repairable state.
08:00The bombing was a test run of the unsuccessful Bojinka terrorist attacks.
08:06You want to know about Bojinka terrorist attacks?
08:10Next time.
08:12The Boeing 747 was flying in the second leg of a route from Ninoy Aquino International Airport,
08:19formerly Manila International Airport, NAIA, Passe in the Philippines, to Narita International Airport,
08:28in Tokyo, Japan, with a stop at Maktan Cebu International Airport, Cebu in the Philippines.
08:37After the bomb detonated, 58-year-old veteran pilot Captain Eduardo Ed Reyes was able to land the aircraft,
08:45saving it and the remaining passengers and crew.
08:49Authorities later discovered that Ramzi Youssef, a passenger on the aircraft's prior flight leg, had placed the explosive.
08:58Youssef boarded the flight under the fake Italian name Armaldo Ferlani,
09:03an incorrect spelling of the name of the Italian legislator Arnaldo Ferlani, in order not to get caught.
09:10Youssef was later convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
09:15Ramzi Youssef boarded the aircraft for the Manila to Cebu leg of the flight.
09:20The plane departed from Manila at 5.35 a.m.
09:24After the plane was airborne, he went into the lavatory with his toiletry bag in hand,
09:29and took off his shoes to get out the batteries, wiring, and spark source,
09:35hidden in the heel below a level where the metal detectors in use at the time could not detect.
09:41Removed a modified Casio digital watch from his wrist to be used as a timer,
09:48unpacked the remaining materials from his toiletry bag, and assembled his bomb.
09:53He set the timer for four hours later, when he would be long disembarked,
09:58and the plane would be far out over the ocean and en route to Tokyo.
10:04During the next leg of its journey, put the entire bomb back into the bag and returned to his assigned seat.
10:11After moving to seat 26K, following a granted permission by a flight attendant,
10:17due to his claim that he could get a better view from that seat,
10:21Youssef tucked the assembled bomb into the life vest pocket underneath.
10:27He had chosen this location based on a misunderstanding of where the fuel tanks were located on this specific 747 configuration.
10:37In some 747 configurations, the fuel tank is located underneath the center of the plane,
10:43where placement of the bomb would likely have resulted in considerable damage,
10:48and could have even brought the plane down, similar to the Lockerbie bombing, which occurred six years earlier.
10:55However, the 747 performing the flight had the fuel tank further back due to its cabin configuration,
11:02making seat 26K two rows forward of the center fuel tank.
11:08After he had finished planting the bomb, Youssef exited the aircraft in Cebu.
11:13Philippine domestic flight attendant Maria de la Cruz noticed that Youssef had switched seats during the Manila to Cebu flight,
11:22and had exited the plane in Cebu alongside the domestic cabin crew,
11:27but did not pass this information along to the international flight crew, which boarded at Cebu for the trip to Tokyo.
11:34In addition to Youssef, 25 other passengers also exited the plane at Cebu,
11:40where 256 more passengers and a new cabin crew, consisting of flight purser
11:46Isidro Mahangas Jr., assistant purser Fernando Bayat.
11:50Flight attendants Augustin Azurin, Ronnie Macapagal, E. Reyes, R. Santiago, M. Alvar,
11:58Alfa Nicolassen, Cynthia Tengosian, Andre Palma, Socorro Mendoza, E. Ko, L. Garcia, N. De La Cruz,
12:08and Adora Altarejos.
12:10L. Abea, along with Japanese interpreter Kei Okada, boarded the plane for the final leg of the flight to Tokyo.
12:18Flight 434 landed in Cebu at 6.50 a.m. after a flight time of 1 hour 15 minutes.
12:26At 8.38 a.m., after a 38 minute delay due to airport congestion,
12:32the plane took off with a total of 273 passengers on board.
12:37Among them was the 24-year-old Haruki Ikagami, a Japanese industrial sewing machine maker,
12:44returning from a business trip to Cebu, occupying seat 26K.
12:49At 11.43 a.m. Eastern Indonesian time, four hours after Yousef planted the bomb,
12:56the device exploded Ikagami's seat, injuring an additional ten passengers
13:02in the adjacent seats in front of and behind seat 26K.
13:07The blast also blew off a two-square-foot portion of the cabin floor,
13:12leaving a gaping hole leading to the cargo hold location,
13:16and the cabin's rapid expansion from the explosion severed a number of control cables in the ceiling
13:23that controlled the plane's right aileron, as well as cables connected to the steering controls
13:29of both the captain and first officer.
13:32Assistant purser Fernando Bayat tried to pull Ikagami out of the hole that was from the explosion,
13:39but soon Bayat realized that part of the latter's body was missing and that Ikagami had died.
13:47In order to prevent additional panic, Bayat called another flight attendant over
13:53to get the appearance that they were tending to Ikagami's needs with a blanket and oxygen mask,
13:59then reported the extent of the passenger injuries to the cockpit.
14:03Masaharu Mochizuki, a passenger on the flight, recalled that passengers, both injured and uninjured,
14:10initially tried to move away from the blast site,
14:13but cabin crew told passengers to remain in place until an assessment of the situation could be made.
14:20Of the ten passengers who were injured, one needed urgent medical care.
14:25The severity of the disaster was reduced by several mitigating factors.
14:31One was that this particular 747 had a modified seating arrangement instead of the standard layout,
14:38making seat 26K two rows forward of the center fuel tank.
14:43The hole in the floor beneath the seat punched through to the cargo hold instead of the fuel tank,
14:50sparing the plane from exploding.
14:53The bomb's orientation, positioning front to back and upward angled from horizontal,
14:59caused the blast to expand vertically and lengthwise.
15:03This spared the plane's outer structure as Ikagami's body absorbed most of the blast force.
15:10The lower half of his body fell into the cargo hold.
15:15Additionally, due to the 38 minute delay in takeoff from Cebu,
15:19the plane was not as far out to sea as anticipated,
15:22which contributed to the captain's available options for an emergency landing.
15:28Immediately after the bombing, the aircraft banked hard to the right,
15:33but the autopilot quickly fixed the bank.
15:36After the blast, Captain Reyes asked systems engineer Dexter Comandador
15:42to survey the blast area to check for damage.
15:46Reyes placed the mayday call, requesting landing at Naha Airport, Okinawa Island, Okinawa Prefecture.
15:54The Japanese air traffic controller experienced difficulty in trying to understand Reyes' request,
16:01so American air traffic controllers from a U.S. military base on Okinawa took over and preceded Reyes' landing.
16:09They directed a USAF Learjet towards PAL 434 to visually check for damage of the outer fuselage
16:17and to verify that the landing gear was in place.
16:22The autopilot had stopped responding to Reyes' commands, and the aircraft flew past Okinawa.
16:29Reyes said in an interview for the Canadian television series Mayday that when he disengaged the autopilot,
16:36he feared that the aircraft would bank right again and the crew would lose control of the aircraft
16:43because of the pressing need to land quickly to attend to the injured and inspect the plane for additional damage.
16:50However, Reyes instructed First Officer Jamie Herrera to take hold of his own controls,
16:56and then Reyes deactivated the autopilot.
16:59The aircraft did not bank after the disengagement of the autopilot,
17:04but neither would it respond as steering inputs from either controller due to the control cable damage caused by the bomb.
17:12The crew struggled to use the ailerons, which could allow the aircraft to roll,
17:17but were still unable to change the plane's direction.
17:20After thinking through the different hypothetical methods of control,
17:24the crew settled on using asymmetric thrust to control the jet in a very similar fashion
17:30to United Airlines Flight 232's crew five years earlier
17:35because other methods of control were either deemed too risky to attempt
17:39or would not have much effect as other ways.
17:42By using the throttles to steer the plane, reducing airspeed to both control the radius of turns
17:49and to allow the plane to descend and dumping fuel to lessen the strain on the landing gear.
17:55The captain landed the damaged 747 at Naha Airport at 1245 PM,
18:02one hour after the bomb exploded.
18:05The aircraft's other 272 passengers and 20 crew members survived.
18:11Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking.
18:30We'd like to thank you for your cooperation and your patience.
18:33Emergency crews are on their way. We'll try and get you out of here as soon as possible. Thank you.
18:38U.S. prosecutors said the device was a Mark II PETN micro bomb constructed using Casio digital watches
18:54as prescribed in phase one of the Bojinka plot, which this was a test.
19:01On Flight 434, Yousef used one tenth of the explosive power he planned to use on 11 U.S. airliners in January 1995.
19:13The bomb was, or at least all of its components were, designed to slip through airport security checks undetected.
19:22The explosive used was liquid nitroglycerin, which was disguised as a bottle of contact lens fluid.
19:30Manila police were able to track the batteries used in the bomb and many of its contents from Okinawa back to Manila.
19:39Police uncovered Yousef's plan on the night of January 6th, in the early morning of January 7th, 1995.
19:48Investigators also discovered that one of the bomb's 9-volt batteries is only sold in the Philippines.
19:54It's another clue that suggests that the bomber could be based there on the night of January 6th, 1995,
20:00almost four weeks after the bombing of Pal 434. The Philippine police get a lucky break.
20:09In his Manila apartment, the Pal 434 bomber has enlisted the help of an accomplice to mass-produce his new undetectable bomb.
20:21An attempt to burn off chemicals gets out of hand. Acrid smelling smoke spills out of the apartment.
20:44It attracts the attention of the doorman, who comes to investigate.
20:48We're playing with some fireworks, but it's ok. We put them out and we have all the windows open inside,
20:53and we keep the door closed, it'll be fine.
20:55Ah, you open the door.
20:56If we open the door, the smoke comes in the hallway. Close the door window, ok? It's ok. It's ok.
21:03Until the smoke dissipates, the bombers decide to wait outside the apartment.
21:09The doorman isn't convinced by their playing with fireworks story, and he calls the fire department and the police.
21:15The bomber now realizes he's left a very sensitive item in the apartment, and he persuades his friend to retrieve his laptop.
21:22Once police inspector Ada Faisal learns that they're from Pakistan, she insists on seeing their room for herself.
21:31The police in Manila are on high alert due to a planned visit by the Pope in a few days.
21:38What inspector Faraskal finds confirms her worst fears about the intentions of the tenants.
21:51The shot distracts the apprentice and he trips over a fallen palm tree.
22:09In the meantime, the bomber vanishes.
22:16The FBI immediately begin a publicity campaign in Pakistan, promoting their $2 million reward for assistance in arresting Youssef.
22:26The strategy works. Youssef's latest recruit for yet another airline bombing blows the whistle.
22:32On the day Youssef is due to leave his hotel in Islamabad, a Pakistani SWAT team moves in.
22:39In Youssef's room are Delta and United Airlines flight schedules, as well as bomb components hidden in France.
22:46What do you want? Who are you? Do you want the warrant?
22:48You are the warrant?
22:49Huh? Do you have one?
22:50Do you want the warrant?
22:51Do you want the warrant?
22:52The informer receives the $2 million bounty.
22:57Is he the warrant?
22:58Do you want the warrant?
22:59Is he the warrant?
23:00Do you want the warrant?
23:01Ah? Do you want the warrant?
23:02What do you want?
23:03In Youssef's room are Delta and United Airlines flight schedules, as well as bomb components hidden in children's toys.
23:09What do you want?
23:11Who are you? Do you have the warrant?
23:13The informer receives the $2 million bounty for the tip-off, which prevents yet another airline attack.
23:23He was extradited back to the United States to face trial,
23:27wherein the New York Supreme Court gave him a life sentence with an additional 240 years.
23:35Youssef concurrently serves his terms at the ADX Florence prison.
23:40Ramzi Youssef's accomplices also received 240 years in prison.
23:47The flight deck and cabin crew members were commended by President Fidel Ramos
23:52for their professional handling of a potentially disastrous situation
23:56and went their separate ways following the incident.
24:00Ed Reyes transferred to Cebu Pacific to work as an administrative check pilot,
24:05flight instructor, and DC-9 captain until his retirement in 2002.
24:11He served as board secretary and director of Airlink International Aviation School,
24:17also working as an aviation course professor in the same institution
24:21until his death on February 14, 2007, from prostate cancer.
24:26The following is the statement from Ramzi Ahmed Youssef while in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
24:41The transcript was provided by the court.
24:44You keep talking, also, about collective punishment
24:47and killing innocent people to force governments to change their policies.
24:52You call this terrorism when someone would kill innocent people or civilians
24:59in order to force the government to change its policies.
25:03Well, when you were the first one who invented this terrorism,
25:07you were the first one who killed innocent people
25:11and you were the first one who introduced this type of terrorism
25:15to the history of mankind when you dropped an atomic bomb
25:19which killed tens of thousands of women and children in Japan.
25:24And when you killed over 100,000 people,
25:26most of them civilians, in Tokyo with fire bombings.
25:31You killed them by burning them to death.
25:34And you killed civilians in Vietnam with chemicals,
25:38as with the so-called Orange Agent.
25:40You killed civilians and innocent people,
25:45not soldiers, innocent people,
25:47every single war you went.
25:50You went to wars more than any other country in this century.
25:54And then you have the nerve to talk about killing innocent people.
25:59And now you have invented new ways to kill innocent people.
26:03You have so-called economic embargo,
26:06which kills nobody other than children and elderly people.
26:10And which other than Iraq,
26:12you have been placing the economic embargo on Cuba
26:14and other countries for over 35 years.
26:18The government, in its summations and opening statement,
26:22said that I was a terrorist.
26:24Yes, I am a terrorist.
26:26I'm proud of it.
26:27And I support terrorism,
26:29so long as it was against the United States government
26:32and against Israel.
26:33Because you have more than terrorists.
26:35You are the one who invented terrorism
26:38and using it every day.
26:40You are butchers, liars, and hypocrites.
26:43The U.S. government has committed acts
26:56that are extremely unjust, hideous, and criminal
26:59through its support of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
27:02And we believe the U.S. is directly responsible
27:05for those killed in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq.
27:08Due to its subordination to the Jews,
27:11the arrogance of the United States regime
27:13has reached the point that they occupied Arabia,
27:16the holiest place of the Muslims,
27:18who are more than a billion people in the world today.
27:21For this and other acts of aggression and injustice,
27:25we have declared jihad against the U.S.
27:27Is the jihad directed against the U.S. government
27:30or United States troops in Arabia?
27:35What about U.S. civilians in Arabia
27:37or the people of the United States?
27:44We have focused our declaration of jihad
27:46on striking at the U.S. soldiers inside Arabia,
27:50the country of the two holy places, Mecca and Medina.
27:53In our religion, it is not permissible
27:56for any non-Muslim to stay in Arabia.
27:59Therefore, even though American civilians
28:01are not targeted in our plan, they must leave.
28:04We do not guarantee their safety.
28:09In 1997, Osama bin Laden said during an interview
28:13that he did not know Youssef,
28:16but claimed to know Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,
28:18who is the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks,
28:22as well as Youssef's uncle.
28:25According to the 9-11 commission,
28:27Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said under interrogation that
28:30Youssef was not a member of Al-Qaeda
28:33and that Youssef never met bin Laden.
28:36Some authors, however, have made note
28:38of a stronger link between Youssef and bin Laden.
28:44Ramzi Youssef shared a cell block
28:46that is commonly referred to as Bomber's Row
28:49with Terry Nichols, Eric Rudolph, and Ted Kaczynski
28:53before his transfer in late 2021.
28:58In 2007, Ramzi Youssef claimed to have found Jesus
29:03and converted to Christianity.
29:05Jesus, Jesus, let's go down to the holy river
29:10and we drown and we'll be delivered.
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