User:Aude/Casulties of the September 11, 2001 attacks

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Contents

[edit] Casualties

At the time of the incident, media reports suggested that tens of thousands might have been killed in the attacks, 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 9/11 range between 14,000 and 19,000. NIST estimated that approximately 17,400 civilians were in the World Trade Center complex at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks.[1] Turnstile counts from the Port Authority indicate that the number of people typically in the Twin Towers by 8:45 a.m. was 14,154.[2]

Lieutenant General Timothy Maude was the highest ranking military official killed at the Pentagon.[3] John P. O'Neill was a former assistant director of the FBI who assisted in the capture of Ramzi Yousef and was the head of security at the World Trade Center when he was killed trying to rescue people from the South Tower.[4] The dead also included 8 children: 5 on American 77 ranging in age from 3 to 11, 3 on United 175 ages 2, 3, and 4.[5] The youngest victim was a 2 year-old child on Flight 175,[6] the oldest an 85 year-old passenger on Flight 11.[7]

[edit] Fatalities

There were 2,974 fatalities, not including the 19 hijackers.

Fatalities included

  • All on the four planes (no one on board any of the hijacked aircraft survived)[8] This includes 81 passengers (not counting the hijackers) and 11 crew members were aboard American Airlines Flight 11; 56 passengers and 9 crew members on United Airlines Flight 175; 58 passengers and 6 crew members were aboard American Airlines Flight 77: 33 passengers and 7 crew members.[9]
  • 2,602 in New York City in the towers and on the ground
    • This includes 343 New York City Fire Department firefighters, 23 New York City Police Department officers, and 37 Port Authority Police Department officers.[10] Casualties of the 9/11 attacks also included 15 EMTs.[11] Approximately 2,000 first responders were also injured in the attacks.[11]
    • 1366 people died who were at or above the floors of impact in the North Tower (1 WTC); according to the Commission Report, hundreds were killed instantly by the impact while the rest were trapped and died after the tower collapsed.[12]
    • As many as 600 people were killed instantly or trapped at or above the floors of impact in the South Tower (2 WTC). Only about 18 managed to escape in time from above the impact zone and out of the South Tower before it collapsed.
    • Of those who worked below the impact zones, only 110 were among those killed in the attacks. 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.[13]
  • 125 in the Pentagon[14]
  • An additional 24 people remain listed as missing.[15]

[edit] World Trade Center

An estimated 200 people jumped to their deaths from the burning towers (as depicted in the photograph "The Falling Man"), landing on the streets and rooftops of adjacent buildings hundreds of feet below.[16] To witnesses watching, a few of the people falling from the towers seemed to have stumbled out of broken windows.[17] Some of the occupants of each tower above its point of impact made their way upward toward the roof in hope of helicopter rescue, however; no rescue plan existed for such an eventuality, the roof access doors were locked and thick smoke and intense heat would have prevented rescue helicopters from landing.[18]

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. Marsh Inc., located immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald on floors 93–101 (the location of Flight 11's impact), lost 295 employees, including one on Flight 175. Additionally, Marsh lost 38 consultants. Risk Waters was holding a conference in Windows on the World at the time, with 81 people in attendance.[19][20]

Lieutenant General Timothy Maude was the highest ranking military official killed at the Pentagon.[3] John P. O'Neill was a former assistant director of the FBI who assisted in the capture of Ramzi Yousef and was the head of security at the World Trade Center when he was killed trying to rescue people from the South Tower.[21] An additional 24 people remain listed as missing.[15]

The average age of all the dead in New York City was 40.[22] The dead included 8 children: 5 on American 77 ranging in age from 3 to 11, 3 on United 175 ages 2, 3, and 4.[5] The youngest victim was a 2 year-old child on Flight 175, the oldest an 82 year-old passenger on Flight 11. In the buildings, the youngest victim was 17 and the oldest was 79.[23]

[edit] Pentagon

All of the fatalities were civilians except some of the 125 victims in the Pentagon.[24]

[edit] Flight 93

Somerset County coroner Wally Miller directed operations at the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania.

[edit] Forensic identification

Ultimately, 2,752 death certificates were filed relating to the 9/11 attacks, as of February 2005. Of the these, 1,588 (58%) were forensically identified from recovered physical remains.[25][26] The Associated Press reported that the city has "about 10,000 unidentified bone and tissue fragments that cannot be matched to the list of the dead."[27] Bone fragments were still being found in 2006 as workers prepared the damaged Deutsche Bank Building for demolition.

[edit] Foreign casualties

  • Approximately 100 UK citizens.[28]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Averill, Jason D., et al. (2005). "Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency Communications", Final Reports of the Federal Building and Fire Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). 
  2. ^ Dwyer, Jim and Kevin Flynn (2005). 102 Minutes. Times Books, p. 266. 
  3. ^ a b Remembering the Lost. Timothy J. Maude, Lieutenant General, United States Army. Arlington National Cemetery (September 22, 2001). Retrieved on 2001-04-16.
  4. ^ "FBI terrorist fighter's body found at WTC", CNN, September 22, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-04-16. 
  5. ^ a b Lynne, Diana (December 21, 2001). Littlest victims largely overlooked. World Net Daily.
  6. ^ September 11 Memorial. CNN. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  7. ^ September 11 Memorial. CNN. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  8. ^ September 11: Chronology of terror. CNN. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
  9. ^ Flight 93 Memorial Effort Gains Over 900 Acres, The New York Times, March 19, 2008
  10. ^ "9/11 by the Numbers", NeyYorkMag.com, September 5, 2002. Retrieved on 2006-09-10. 
  11. ^ a b NIST NCSTAR1-8
  12. ^ Heroism and Honor. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. U.S. Congress (August 21, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-09-08.
  13. ^ 9/11 Commission. "Chapter 9", 9/11 Commission Report. Government Printing Office. 
  14. ^ "First video of Pentagon 9/11 attack released", CNN, May 16, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-09-10. 
  15. ^ a b "24 Remain Missing", September 11 Victims, 2006, August 12. Retrieved on 2006-09-07. 
  16. ^ Cauchon, Dennis and Martha Moore. "Desperation forced a horrific decision", USATODAY, September 2, 2002. Retrieved on 2006-09-09. 
  17. ^ Cauchon, Dennis and Martha Moore. "Desperation forced a horrific decision", USATODAY, September 2, 2002. Retrieved on 2006-09-09. 
  18. ^ "Poor Info Hindered 9/11 Rescue", CBS News, May 18, 2004. Retrieved on 2006-09-11. 
  19. ^ Citizens of the World, on Time for a Meeting in Harm's Way, The New York Times, September 11, 2001
  20. ^ Field, Peter, Remembering September 11 The Day I’ll Never Forget, Risk Waters
  21. ^ "FBI terrorist fighter's body found at WTC", CNN, September 22, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-04-16. 
  22. ^ Beveridge, Andrew. 9/11/01-02: A Demographic Portrait Of The Victims In 10048. Gotham Gazette.
  23. ^ Victims of the World Trade Center attack, listed by age. Lewis Mumford Center for comparative urban and regional research. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.
  24. ^ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. U.S. Congress (August 21, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-09-08.
  25. ^ CNN. Identification of 9/11 remains comes to an end. Retrieved on February 23, 2005.
  26. ^ USA Today. NYC's work to ID 9/11 victims ends - for now. Retrieved on February 23, 2005.
  27. ^ Ground Zero Forensic Work Ends. CBS News (Feb. 23, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-09-08.
  28. ^ British and Irish nationals, The Guardian

[edit] Further reading