Casualties of the September 11 attacks

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Russian President Vladimir Putin writes a message of condolence at a makeshift memorial wall to the international victims of the September 11 attacks near the World Trade Center site in November 2001.

The September 11 attacks killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 others.[1] These immediate deaths included 265 on the four planes, 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area, and 125 at the Pentagon.[2][3] The attacks of September 11, 2001, were the deadliest terrorist act in world history and the most devastating foreign attack on American soil since the sneak attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.[4]

All of those perished were civilians except for 71 law enforcement officers and 343 firefighters who died in the World Trade Center and on the ground in New York City,[5] one law enforcement officer who died when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania,[6] 55 military personnel who died at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia,[7] and the 19 terrorists who died on board the four aircraft. Overall, 2,605 U.S. citizens, including 2,135 civilians, died in the attacks but an additional 372 non-U.S. citizens (excluding the 19 perpetrators) also perished, which represented about 12% of the total.[2] More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks,[8] including the United Kingdom (67 deaths), the Dominican Republic (47 deaths), and India (41 deaths).

2,974 victims were confirmed to have died during the initial attacks, including a doctor who was ruled in 2008 to have died on 9/11.[9] However, in 2007, the New York City medical examiner's office began to add people who died of illnesses caused by exposure to dust from the site to the official death toll. The first such victim was a woman, a civil rights lawyer, who had died from a lung condition in February 2002.[10] In September 2009, the office added a man who died in October 2008,[11] and in 2011, a man, an accountant, who died in December 2010.[12] This raises the number of victims at the World Trade Center site to 2,753 and the overall 9/11 victim death toll to 2,977.[13]

As of August 2013, medical authorities concluded that 1,140 people who worked, lived, or studied in Lower Manhattan at the time of the attack have been diagnosed with cancer as a result of "exposure to toxins at Ground Zero".[14] It has been reported that over 1,400 9/11 rescue workers who responded to the scene in the days and months after the attacks have since died.[15] At least eleven unborn babies also died on 9/11.[16]

Evacuation

At the time of the attacks, media reports suggested that tens of thousands might have been killed, as on any given day upwards of 100,000 people could be inside the towers. Estimates of the number of people in the Twin Towers when attacked on Tuesday September 11, 2001 range between 14,000 and 19,000. The National Institute of Standards and Technology estimated that approximately 17,400 civilians were in the World Trade Center complex at the time of the attacks.[17] Turnstile counts from the Port Authority indicate that the number of people typically in the Twin Towers by 10:30 am was 14,154.[18]

In the moments after Flight 11 struck the North Tower, the roughly 8,000 people on the floors below the point of impact (the 93rd to 99th floors) were faced with a harrowing scenario. The towers of the World Trade Center complex had not been designed to facilitate a mass evacuation of everybody in the buildings, and in each tower there were only three narrow stairwells descending to the ground level. Many people began to evacuate via the stairs on their own, while others chose to wait for instructions from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Another hindrance to the evacuation of the World Trade Center was that as the planes struck, the force of the impact caused the buildings to shift enough to jam doors in their frames, trapping dozens of people throughout the building, mostly on the floors closer to the impact zone. As evacuees descended down the staircases in the North Tower, they were directed to descend to the concourse level beneath the World Trade Center complex, where the mall was located.

Within moments of Flight 11's impact, the Port Authority issued a complete evacuation of the North Tower. Meanwhile, in the South Tower, many people saw what had happened in the North Tower and chose to evacuate as a precaution. However, the major hindrance to this process was that for the seventeen minutes between the impacts of Flight 11 and Flight 175, it had not yet been determined that a terrorist attack was unfolding, and as a result the Port Authority in the South Tower spread the word via the building's intercom system and security guards for workers in the South Tower to remain in their offices.

This was done in order to avoid overcrowding on the plaza and concourse levels, which was feared would slow the evacuation and rescue operations in the North Tower. Regardless, thousands of people continued to evacuate the South Tower anyway. For example, in the uppermost section of the South Tower between the 78th Floor Sky Lobby and the Observation Deck on the 107th and 110th Floors, there were an estimated 2,000 employees on those floors, including 1,100 on the floors occupied by AON Insurance, those being the 92nd, and 98th-105th. One of AON's executives, Eric Eisenberg, initiated the evacuation of their floors within moments of the impact of Flight 11.[19]

A similar evacuation was carried out on the floors occupied by Fiduciary Trust, on the 90th, 94th-97th floors, as well as in the offices of Fuji Bank (on floors 79-82) and Euro Brokers on floor 84, which occupied the floors directly above the 78th Floor Sky Lobby. Executives such as Eisenberg instructed their employees to take the stairs down to the 78th floor Sky Lobby, where they could take an express elevator to the ground level and exit the building. Within a window of roughly 17 minutes, between 8:46 AM and 9:03 AM, an estimated 1,400 people successfully evacuated the upper floors of the South Tower, while roughly 600 people did not. At the moment of the impact of Flight 175, an estimated 200 people had packed into the Sky Lobby on the 78th Floor and were waiting for the express elevators. Almost all of these people then died, as the lobby was in the lower section of Flight 175's impact zone.

Once both towers had been struck, the order to evacuate the North Tower quickly spread to encompass not only the entire World Trade Center complex, but most high rise buildings in Lower Manhattan and surrounding areas as well. The evacuation of employees from the North and South towers continued past the plaza and through the concourse. Evacuees from the North Tower were directed across the full length of the concourse to 5 World Trade Center, from where they exited the complex onto Church Street. Evacuees from the South Tower were provided with a separate route in order to deter congestion, with theirs leading them to 4 World Trade Center and exiting onto Liberty Street.

Survivors

Only 14 people escaped from the impact zone of the South Tower (floors 77 to 85) after it was struck by United Airlines Flight 175, and only four people from the floors above it. Individuals escaped from the South Tower as high up as the 84th floor using stairwell A in the northwest corner, the only stairwell left intact after the impact. Investigators believe that stairwell A remained passable until the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 am. Because of communication difficulties between 911 operators and FDNY and NYPD responders, most of them were unaware that stairwell A was passable and instructed survivors above the impact zone to wait for assistance by rescue personnel.[20]

After the towers collapsed, only 23 individuals in or below the towers escaped from the debris, including 15 rescue workers. The last survivor removed from the WTC collapse debris was found in the ruins of the North Tower 27 hours after its collapse.[21] An unknown number of other people survived initial collapse, but were buried in air pockets deep beneath the rubble and could not be rescued in time.[22][23] A total of 6,294 people were treated in area hospitals for injuries related to the 9/11 attacks in New York City.[citation needed]

Fatalities

World Trade Center

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See also: Emergency workers killed in the September 11 attacks
September 11th Memorial fountain at base of where one of the towers once stood and the associated museum at left.

2,606 people who were in the World Trade Center and on the ground perished in the attacks on and the subsequent collapse of the towers.[2][24] This figure consisted of 2,192 civilians (including eight EMTs and paramedics from private hospital units); 343 members of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY); and 71 law enforcement officers including 23 members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), 37 members of the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD), five members of the New York State Office of Tax Enforcement (OTE), three officers of the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA), one fire marshal of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) who have sworn law enforcement powers (and was also among the 343 FDNY members killed), one member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and one member of the United States Secret Service (USSS).[25][26]

1,402 people died at or above the floors of impact in the North Tower. According to the Commission Report, hundreds were killed instantly by the impact while the remainder of the fatalities were trapped above the impact zone and died after the tower collapsed. Although a few people would subsequently be found alive in the rubble following the collapse of the towers, none of these individuals were from above the impact zone.[27] John P. O'Neill was a former assistant director of the FBI who assisted in the capture of 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and was the head of security at the World Trade Center when he was killed trying to rescue people from the North Tower.[28] An additional 24 people officially remain listed as missing.[29] Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., an investment bank on the 101st–105th floors of One World Trade Center, lost 658 employees, considerably more than any other employer.[30] Marsh Inc., located immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald on floors 93–100 (the location of Flight 11's impact), lost 295 employees and 63 consultants.[31][32] Risk Waters, a business organization, was holding a conference in Windows on the World at the time, with 81 people in attendance.[33][34]

614 people were killed at or above the floors of impact in the South Tower. Only 18 people are known to have managed to escape using staircase A before the South Tower collapsed; a further 110 people killed in the attacks are known to have been below the impact zone when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower. The 9/11 Commission notes that this fact strongly indicates that evacuation below the impact zones was a success, allowing most to safely evacuate before the collapse of the World Trade Center.[35]

A USA Today report estimated that approximately 200 people perished inside the elevators, while only 21 escaped the elevators. Many elevators did not plunge, but were destroyed due to the crash and subsequent fires, or were stranded in the shafts. A locking mechanism prevented escapees and rescuers, except on one elevator, from opening the doors on stranded elevators.[36] This included a bomb sniffing dog named Sirius,[37] which was not included in the official death toll.

Before the Twin Towers collapsed, an estimated 200 people fell to their deaths from the burning towers, landing on the streets and rooftops of adjacent buildings hundreds of feet below at a speed of almost 150 miles per hour—sufficient to cause instantaneous death upon impact, but insufficient to cause unconsciousness throughout the actual fall. Most of those who had fallen from the World Trade Center had jumped from the North Tower.[38] To witnesses upon the ground, many of the people falling from the towers seemed to have deliberately jumped to their deaths,[39] including the person whose photograph became known as the Falling Man. The NIST report officially describes the deaths of 104 jumpers, but states that this figure likely understates the true number of those who had died in this manner. The sight and sound of these individuals falling from the towers, then "smashing like eggs on the ground" horrified and traumatized many witnesses. The jumpers' death certificates state the cause of death as homicide due to "blunt trauma".[40] Some of the occupants of each tower above its point of impact made their way upward toward the roof in hope of helicopter rescue, only to find the roof access doors locked. Port Authority officers attempted to unlock the doors but control systems would not let them; in any case, thick smoke and intense heat would have prevented rescue helicopters from landing.[41]

The average age of the dead in New York City was 40.[42] In the buildings, the youngest victim was 18 and the oldest was 79,[43][44] although this age range precludes a number of unborn babies also known to have died in the attacks.[45]

Contrary to some conspiracy theories about Jews being warned not to go to work that day, the number of Jews who died in the attacks is variously estimated at between 270 and 400.[46][47][48][49]

The following list details the number of deaths reported by companies in business premises at the World Trade Center. The list includes WTC tenants (all buildings), vendors, visitors, independent emergency responders, and some hijacked passenger-related firms.[50]

Pentagon

125 people were killed at the Pentagon, most of whom worked for the United States Army or the United States Navy.[52] Of the 125 deaths, 70 were civilians, including 47 Army employees, six Army contractors, six Navy employees, three Navy contractors, seven Defense Intelligence Agency employees, and one Office of the Secretary of Defense contractor;[53] and 55 were members of the United States Armed Forces, including 33 Navy sailors and 22 Army soldiers.[54] Lieutenant General Timothy Maude, an Army Deputy Chief of Staff, was the highest-ranking military official killed at the Pentagon.[55]

Aboard the four planes

265 fatalities aboard the four planes including the following:[56] 87 civilians (including 11 crew members) and the five hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11; 60 civilians (including 9 crew members) and the five hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 175;[57] 59 civilians (including 6 crew members) and the five hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77; and 39 civilians (including 7 crew members), a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer,[58] and the four hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93.[59][60] The dead included eight children: five on American Airlines Flight 77 ranging in age from 3 to 11[61] and three on United Airlines Flight 175 ages 2, 3, and 4.[62] The youngest victim was a ​2 1⁄2-year-old child on Flight 175 and the oldest was an 85-year-old passenger on Flight 11.[63]

Foreign deaths

Excluding the 19 perpetrators, 372 foreign nationals[64][not in citation given] died, representing more than 12% of the total number of deaths in the attacks, almost half of whom being British, Dominican, Indian or South Korean. Without accounting for some cases of dual citizenship, here is a list of their nationalities:

Forensic identification

As of September 11, 2012, a total of 2,753 death certificates were filed relating to the attacks.[102] Of these, 1,588 (58%) were forensically identified from recovered physical remains.[103][104] The Associated Press reported that the medical examiner's office possesses "about 10,000 unidentified bone and tissue fragments that cannot be matched to the list of the dead".[105] Bone fragments were still being found in 2006 as workers prepared the damaged Deutsche Bank Building for demolition.[106]

On April 17, 2013, five possible remains were recovered after being sifted at Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island. The medical examiner said evidence of a possible victim of the attacks was recovered as well two days later.[107]

On June 21, 2013, the medical examiner's office matched its 1,637th victim, a 43-year-old woman, to its list of victims as a result of DNA testing of debris collected from the site. By family request, her name was not released.[108]

On July 5, 2013, the medical examiner's office identified the remains of FDNY firefighter Lt. Jeffrey P. Walz, 37, after they were retested. His remains were recovered months after the attack and is now the 1,638th victim forensically identified.[109]

See also

References

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  47. ↑ A survey of the 1,700 victims whose religion was listed found approximately 10% were Jewish indicating around 270 in total. A survey based on the last names of victims found that around 400 (​15 1⁄2%) were possibly Jewish. A survey of 390 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who had public memorials (out of the 658 who died) found 49 were Jewish (​12 1⁄2%). According to the 2002 American Jewish Year Book, New York State's population was 9% Jewish. Sixty-four percent of the WTC victims lived in New York State.
  48. ↑ The Mitzvah To Remember (09/05/2002) Gary Rosenblatt, August 3, 2007 Archived May 6, 2006 at the Wayback Machine
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Further reading

External links

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