The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 1

bi- nil Mm nrin First published 1831 No. 51,175 $1.10 cinci gsd Wednesday September 12, 2001 rvno Tr own b-1 World Trade Centre razed 1 0,000 feared dead in suicide attacks INSIDE Mark Riley Paul McGeouqh Michelle Grattan and Gerard Wright tnimn lliil Page 2 World's axis brought to its knees; Bush vows to hunt cowards Page 3 Planning behind the outrage; Security tightened here Page 4 Blow struck at nation's heart; Howard ushered to safety PageS World unites over carnage Page 12 Editorial Page 20 The tragedy in pictures if li if Ill' i -A If 4. to i i ft If i ft ti Terrorists killed up to 10,000 Americans last night when they crashed two passenger jets into the twin towers of New York's landmark World Trade Centre, and a third into the Pentagon. They crashed one other hijacked passenger jet as part of a succession of suicide attacks. The unidentified terrorists had hijacked an American Airlines and a United Airlines Boeing 767 from Boston carrying at least 149 passengers and crew between them then deliberately smashed them into the towers of the Worid Trade Centre.

Both towers -1 1 0 storeys high and the workplace of 50,000 people collapsed within an hour of the first plane crashing into the centre at 8.48 am New York time. The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, who is in Washington, warned that Australians could have been on board some of the planes, one of which may have been a connecting flight for Qantas. Soon after the World Trade Centre erupted, an American Airlines Boeing 757 with 65 people on board crashed into the Pentagon's executive building in Washington, sparking a major fire and forcing the evacuation of the White House. The hijackers had diverted the plane from its scheduled Washington-Los Angeles route. President George Bush said: "Make no mistake the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts." One witness said he saw at least 30 people leaping to certain death from windows high in the towers before they collapsed.

A person who answered the phone on the trading floor at interdealer-broker Cantor Fitzgerald, near the top of the World Trade Centre, had said: "We're ing dying in here." No group claimed responsibility, but Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden warned three weeks ago that he and his followers would carry out an unprecedented attack on US interests for its support of Israel, an Arab journalist with access to him said. Islamic fundamentalists led by bin Laden were almost certainly behind the attacks, said Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi, an Arabic- a -5 ,1 -t Ml language weekly news magazine. Early today, Sydney time, a United Airlines Boeing 757 crashed outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with 45 people on board. A car bomb also exploded at the US State Department. Television viewers around the worid had watched in disbelief as explosions erupted from the World Trade Centre's twin towers, which became raging infernos with planes still trapped inside.

The first plane tore a huge gash into the upper floors of the building. Then TV viewers watched in disbelief as, 18 minutes later, the second plane was flown into the second tower. The first plane, which had been bound for Los Angeles from Boston, was carrying 92 passengers and crew. The second, on the same route, was carrying about 56 passengers and crew. Victims from the buildings -many suffering extensive burns -began arriving at hospitals in New York City about an hour after the two planes slammed into the twin towers, witnesses said.

"Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe," said Dr Steven Stern at St Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of lower Manhattan. People had apparently waited on the roof of the burning buildings awaiting rescue by helicopters, but they could not reach them because of the thick smoke. The centre was the scene of a bombing in 1993 that killed six and injured about 1,000. All flights in the US were grounded, except Air Force One. All flights bound for the US were diverted to Canada, and the border with Canada was closed.

"I have a sense that it's a horrendous number of lives have been lost," New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. He called Continued Page 5 Mi If i Si. HI'. iiiii li li'. ti: HI "'V 11 1:1 1 11 "If- II if 11 llll 1" 11 lL 11 1.

Smoke and flames erupt from the World Trade Centre after the second strike by a hijacked airliner yesterday. The attack marked the start of a widespread campaign of terror attacks. Photo: Spencer PlattGetty ImagesAlisport WEATHER Details Page 13 Today twas ive Tomorrow Fine; SW winds. City 21 NSW today Rain clearing from thunderstorm later. Rain clearing; cloudy with winds later.

City13-21 Liverpool n-21 Richmond 11-21 The horror unfolded around Paul McGeough as he walked the streets of New York. ISSN 0312-6315 'They didn't just drop; they were carried on the wind Eyewitness MIKE DERBY In the desperate moments after the attack six blocks from what was left of the World Trade Centre the streets were full of crying people. The city was totally shocked, with hundreds of emergency vehicles with paramedics on standby on street corners, cars exploding in the streets and fighter aircraft circling the city. Everyone walking around this side of town looked like a ghost -covered from head to foot in "They knew it was a terrorist attack. I got out into the street.

I watched 30 people jump. "It was surreal. The people who jumped didn't just drop; they were carried spreadeagled on the wind. "I was surprised when the bodies did hit the pavement. I didn't think they would make so loud a noise.

"I was looking up at the second tower when the jet came in like a black flash." grey dust. The whole of Manhattan was enveloped in a mushroom cloud. Two hours after after the first explosion and very disturbingly there were no injured people coming out. The ambulances were all lined up and no-one was being put into them. We learned that a team of about 400 surgeons, doctors, nurses and volunteers was on standby at a field hospital set up Continued Page 20 "It was either be burnt alive or jump." Mike Derby, 30, was attending an economics conference in the Marriott Hotel, which is part of the World Trade Centre.

His hands shook as he described what he saw. "A man was giving a boring speech about securities when it happened. The building shook. I didn't think much of it, but all the economists in their grey suits started running. CONTACT US Inquiries 02 9282 2833 Home delivery 02 9282 3800 Classifieds 13 25 35 FULL INDEX Page 2 ii! Kenny Johannemann was in the the number one tower of the Worid Trade centre, waiting for the elevator in the basement.

It was shift-change time, the time of day when the building is most crowded. "The lift door exploded open, there was a man inside half burnt. His skin was hanging off. "I dragged him out of the lift and somebody helped me get him out for the building. "The explosion hit the building at about level 80.

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