Audio capturing the violent impact of the second hijacked plane striking the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, is drawing renewed attention as the nation marks 25 years since the attacks.
The recording, featured in the documentary 9/11 The Unseen Footage, was filmed as bystanders captured the already burning North Tower before the second plane hit its counterpart. The sound of the impact registers clearly before the camera turns to reveal the expanding fireball, a detail that has startled viewers who had never before heard what the collision actually sounded like.
Online reactions to the footage have been immediate and visceral. Many viewers said they’d never actually heard what it sounded like, while others admitted they’d never thought about it before. Additional commenters expressed that they couldn’t fathom what it was like being there to witness it in person.
For those in Lower Manhattan that morning, the confusion of the first strike gave way to horrifying certainty with the second. It was not initially clear whether the first crash was a freak accident or intentional, but then the second plane struck the South Tower.
Dr Gordon Huie, who was on the ground that day, recounted how he initially started heading toward the towers but reversed course when the North Tower collapsed, realizing there was nothing he could do. He redirected to nearby Beekman Hospital, where he was put to work as a first responder sewing people up on a conference room table.
The work continued until no more patients came through. Only then did he receive a call from his father with devastating news: his sister had been at the World Trade Center for a meeting at the Windows on the World restaurant. Nobody who had been there on the day of the terrorist attacks survived.
Bond trader Stefan Horlacher, who had been working two blocks away from the Twin Towers, felt the vibration from the first plane strike and went outside to a scene of unfolding catastrophe. He witnessed people jumping to their deaths from the tower, then saw the second plane strike and shower the streets with debris.
A woman standing next to him, Debbie St John, was struck by debris and cut down her back. Stefan tied his shirt around her torso and, along with others, protected her from being trampled by people running away.
Debbie was the first hospital patient admitted on 9/11 and the last to leave. She spent 18 months undergoing 50 surgeries before she was well enough to be discharged.
The newly circulated audio joins other previously unseen materials emerging for the 25th anniversary. The documentary 9/11 The Unseen Footage has assembled witness testimonials and recovered recordings to paint what it presents as the clearest picture yet of the morning’s events.
The 2001 attacks saw terrorists hijack four passenger planes and target major American landmarks. The first two flights struck the Twin Towers, the third hit the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and a passenger revolt on the fourth aircraft brought it crashing down in a field in Pennsylvania. It is believed the target of the fourth hijacked plane was the White House.
The anniversary commemorations continue across the country as survivors, first responders, and family members gather to remember the nearly 3,000 people killed.