After all this time, still shocking and saddening
Newly released aerial photos of the World Trade Center terror attack capture the towers’ dramatic collapse, from just after the first fiery plane strike to the apocalyptic dust clouds that spread over lower Manhattan and its harbor.
The images were taken from a police helicopter — the only photographers allowed in the air space near the towers on Sept. 11, 2001. They were obtained by ABC News after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which investigated the collapse.
ABC said the NIST gave the network 2,779 pictures on nine CDs, saying some of the photographs had never been released before.
Lots can be seen at ABC News and The Wall Street Journal
The network posted 12 photos this week on its Web site, all taken by ex-NYPD Aviation Unit Detective Greg Semendinger, who was first in the air in a search for survivors on the rooftop. He said he and his pilot watched the second plane hit the south tower from the helicopter.
“We didn’t find one single person. It was surreal,” he told the Associated Press Wednesday. “There was no sound. No sound whatsoever, but the noise of the radio and the helicopter. I just kept taking pictures.”
Video from USA Today
Chilling. Probably the last time I’m seeking a 9-11 image.