00:02On September 11, 2001, exactly 25 years ago today, two commercial planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda
00:10terrorists crashed into each of the Twin Towers in New York City. A third struck the Pentagon,
00:16while a fourth, likely heading for the U.S. Capitol, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
00:21Newsrooms around the world scrambled to document an unfolding disaster of almost unimaginable
00:27proportions. The result of a plane crash, it's believed, which took place about half an hour ago
00:33in New York. Here in London, we look back at how the Evening Standard covered the events
00:39on a day that changed the world forever. A special edition of the newspaper was rushed out in the
00:47afternoon of Tuesday, September 11, with a two-page wrap showing the World Trade Center
00:51and surrounding buildings engulfed in smoke. Terror war on USA, the headline reads,
00:57In a matter of moments, two New York Towers had been destroyed, the Pentagon had been hit,
01:02and there were two more known crashes. At that point, the death count was not known,
01:07but it quickly became clear that thousands of lives were already lost. Hundreds of thousands
01:13of extra copies were printed, and the paper sold out across the Capitol as Londoners rushed
01:17to read about the tragedy.
01:22Victims were being found amidst the rubble in a city that had been torn apart. People trapped
01:27inside the rubble made desperate calls to the police, while hospitals overflowed with patients
01:32and firefighters coming in for treatment. Suspicions were beginning to emerge that Osama bin Laden,
01:37leader of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, was responsible for the attacks. The U.S. was a country
01:43in a state of siege, with its borders with Canada and Mexico both sealed. All flights have been grounded
01:50and airports shut, the newspaper reads. Meanwhile, in London, the Evening Standard reported that the
01:55Capitol was on high alert for any possible similar attacks. An extra 500 officers were deployed on
02:02streets and security was ramped up in airports and U.S. embassy buildings. Fleet Street veteran
02:07Richard Holliday wrote for the paper that President George W. Bush told his security team that they would
02:13find these people and that they will suffer the consequences. One chilling testimony in the paper tells how Mark
02:19Bingham made his final call to his mother from United Airlines Flight 93. He told her,
02:25we've been taken over. I want you to know that I love you very much in case I don't see
02:29you again.
02:30The Standard revealed how brokers, bankers and city workers desperately tried to escape from the towers
02:36before they collapsed. Bodies fell from the upper floors of the towers. Some were perhaps blown out by the
02:41explosion. Others may have been hanging on and finally lost their grip, the paper reads. But many of them
02:47jumped, no doubt after deciding that a swift end was preferable to burning to death. While fear
02:53crept through the Capitol, Londoners gathered to pay their respects outside the U.S. embassy in what
02:58was then Grosvenor Square. Tributes poured in from Londoners and leaders alike. The Evening Standard's
03:04editor, Max Hastings, wrote,
03:06the vulnerability of the greatest society on earth, which considers itself to be at peace, was laid bare by a
03:12handful of
03:13fanatics who think themselves at war.
03:18Reporting from New York, the paper's James Langton covered the desperate search as families aimed to reunite with their
03:24loved ones. Devastating pictures showed families clutching photographs of missing people as the search continued through the
03:31rubble. At least 100 Britons were believed to be among the dead, the newspaper reported, though the toll was later
03:37confirmed as 67.
03:41Countries around the globe united in mourning. World's Day of Prayer was the simple front page headline in the Evening
03:48Standard,
03:49accompanied by a picture of an American flag lit by surrounding candlelight. Though a quarter of a century has passed,
03:55the effects of that day still live on, as we remember the 2,977 souls who had their lives brutally
04:03taken from them.
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