The moment a group of high school students learned of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center was captured in “harrowing” footage.
On September 11, 2001, four coordinated terrorist attacks were carried out by the Islamist extremist group Al-Qaeda.
Two planes crashed into the North and South Towers – the Twin Towers – of the World Trade Center complex in New York, a third plane crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed into a field in western Pennsylvania, killing 2,977 people.
At the time of the attacks, a group of students at a high school in Virginia were filming a class project. You can see how the mood in the class changed dramatically as the young people learned about 9/11 and watched the news in real time on television.
2,977 people died in the terrorist attacks of September 11 (Fabina Sbina/Hugh Zareasky/Getty Images)
In the clip, students are seen joking among themselves, but when news footage of the attacks appears, the class falls silent.
One of the students lets out an “Oh my God” and another holds his head in his hands.
The attack on the Twin Towers 22 years ago is one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in history.
In 2001, most people learned of this devastating news simultaneously, whereas today most of us get breaking news directly on our smartphones. That’s one reason why this clip of stunned students learning of the gruesome attack in their classroom is even more disturbing.
One person responded to the footage by explaining that she had not yet been born and wrote: “I can’t imagine what it would have been like to see this on TV.”
“The goosebumps. It’s something you never forget,” said another, while a third wrote: “It felt like the world was ending!”
A fourth added: “I was in high school back then too and I remember school ending and we were all glued to the TV. Crazy to see that.”
Another student similarly filmed her roommate’s reaction as they sat in their New York apartment and watched the scene unfolding before them.
A student was filmed holding his head in his hands (TikTok/ @_911_footage_)
Caroline Dries and her friend Megan were awakened by the first explosion and assumed it was a bomb that had been placed at the top of the building.
But shortly afterwards, the young women panic when they see the second plane crash into the neighboring tower.
Speaking to CNN in 2011, Caroline – who is now a successful television screenwriter and producer – said: “We were children, we were so vulnerable and so naive.”
“My reaction was, ‘There’s no way people are going to jump to their deaths.’ (I) just couldn’t go there.
“I remember feeling like I didn’t know what to do, feeling so vulnerable and overwhelmed.
“We ran out of the apartment, took the elevator down to the street and there was just chaos on the street and nobody knew what was going on.”
Speaking about the clip’s significance, she said: “Sometimes I think it would have been nice not to have filmed it. To just run and let time erase all the details and just move forward a little bit faster.”
