NEW YORK (AP) – Planes crashed into the upper floors of both World Trade Center towers minutes apart today in a horrific scene of explosions and fires that left gaping holes in the 110-story building.
There was no immediate word on injuries or fatalities in the twin disasters, which happened shortly before 9 a.m. and then right around 9 a.m.
In Washington, officials said the FBI was investigating reports of a plane hijacking before the crashes.
The towers were struck by truck bombers in February 1993.
“The plane was coming in low and … it looked like it hit at a slight angle,” said Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, the network reported.
Large holes were visible in sides of the 110-story buildings, landmark twin towers.
“I was watching TV. and heard a sonic boom …,” witness Jeanne Yurman told CNN. “The side of the world trade center exploded. Debris is falling like leaflets. I hear ambulances. The northern tower seems to be on fire.”
The tops of the twin towers were obscured by the smoke.
Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about three miles from the tower, one witness said.
The center bombing on Feb. 26, 1993, killing six people and injured more than 1,000 others.
In 1945, an Army Air Corps B-25, a twin-engine bomber, crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in dense fog.
Aircraft crashes near Pentagon; Capitol, White House evacuated
WASHINGTON — An aircraft crashed near the Pentagon this morning, and the Capitol and White House were evacuated after bomb threats.
President Bush said the two earlier plane crashes into the World Trade Center were “an apparent terrorist attack on our country.”
The Federal Aviation Administration shut down all airplane traffic nationwide.
Other major government institutions, including Treasury and the State Department, were also evacuated.
Paul Begala, a Democratic consultant, said he witnessed an explosion near the Pentagon.
“It was a huge fireball, a huge, orange fireball,” Begala said in an interview on his cell phone.
He said another witness told him a helicopter exploded. AP reporter Dave Winslow also saw the crash. He said, “I saw the tail of a large airliner. … It plowed right into the Pentagon.”
Meanwhile, one of two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center was hijacked after takeoff from Boston, a U.S. official said, citing a transmission from the plane.
The second plane may have flown out of Newark, N.J., the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Asked if there was any possibility the crashes were anything other than deliberate, the official said it appeared not to be an accident, the official said.
A somber Bush told an audience in Sarasota, Fla., gathered to hear an address on education that “this is a difficult moment for America.” He said he would be returning immediately to Washington.
“Today we’ve had a national tragedy,” Bush said. “Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country.”
