Chapter 1070 The Building Collapsed

: In the second half of the night, more detailed intelligence was transmitted back through the six channels of Fanshi Investment Group, which shocked everyone.

At 8:40 a.m. on September 11, 2001, Eastern Time, four domestic civil aviation flights in the United States were hijacked almost simultaneously, and two of the planes hit the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York. One attacked the Pentagon, the seat of the U.S. Department of Defense in Washington.

The fourth hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania. According to subsequent investigations, the passengers on board tried to regain control of the plane from the hijackers before the crash. The target of the hijacked plane is unknown, but it is believed that the hijacker hit the U.S. Capitol or the White House (the results of the interrogation of the terrorists involved in the attack showed that the fourth target of the terrorist attack was the Capitol, and before that, the U.S. officials had always suspected that the target was the White House).

The two 110-story skyscrapers of the World Trade Center in New York collapsed one after another after the attack. In addition, five buildings near the World Trade Center were also collapsed and damaged due to the earthquake; the Pentagon was partially damaged and part of the structure collapsed; the attack filled the sky over Manhattan Island with dust and smoke.

Since it was rush hour, it was still unknown how many people were trapped and how many died in the World Trade Center. Phoenix TV and some other domestic media reacted strongly to the incident. Everyone was speculating whether the number of petitioners this time would really exceed the 50,000 people rumored by the American media.

"It is unlikely that there will be 50,000 people. At most, there will be a few thousand people," Fan Wubing said to Jobs, who was a little uneasy.

In fact, this was just the media's speculation in an emergency. Everyone had counted the number of people in the World Trade Center and estimated how many people should be working in the building at this time. But one thing was overlooked, that is, the number of direct casualties in the World Trade Center building was much smaller. After all, from the attack to people's reaction, to the arrival of the emergency rescue team. Then the main part of the building was damaged by the fire and collapsed as a whole. This time lasted for several hours.

Soon, a detailed list of events was passed from all sides after dawn. The entire TV station was discussing this matter. From media anchors to emergency military experts, they all gathered together. Let's analyze this matter.

At 8:19 am on September 11, a flight attendant of American Airlines Flight 11 called American Airlines and told them that the cockpit was not responding, a passenger in the business class was stabbed to death, and we might be hijacked.

At 8:24 am, American Airlines Flight 1 turned to New York. Thirteen minutes later, the Boston Aviation Center of the Federal Aviation Administration notified the Northeast Air Defense Command under the North American Aerospace Defense Command that American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked. This was the first time the US government received information about hijacking, and the Boston Aviation Center asked the US government to help intercept American Airlines Flight 11. Immediately afterwards, United Airlines Flights 93 and 175 were hijacked one after another.

At 8:46 am, Two U.S. Air Force Eagle fighters were scrambled from the Massachusetts Air Force Base to intercept American Airlines Flight 11, but the Air Force pilots did not know the exact location of American Airlines Flight 11. The Northeast Air Defense Command tried to locate the aircraft in the next few minutes.

At 8:46:40 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11. A fully fueled Boeing aircraft crashed into the North Building of the World Trade Center at a speed of approximately 490 miles per hour, between the 94th and 98th floors in the north of the building. The building immediately caught fire, and the 69 tons of aviation fuel on the aircraft poured into the building, exacerbating the fire and destroying the entire building structure.

People below the impacted floor began to evacuate. But all three staircases were damaged. , so people above the hit floor could not escape. The staff of the World Trade Center South Tower quickly notified all the people in the South Tower. They said that the South Tower was still safe and could operate normally.

Some people ignored the broadcast announcement and evacuated, some continued to work, and some gathered in the sky lobby in the South Tower.

Three minutes later, CNN began live broadcasting of the World Trade Center, which was the first news media in the world to report on the attack.

Fourteen minutes later, American Airlines Flight 175 was hijacked.

At 9:02:54 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175, a fully fueled Boeing Rui plane, crashed into the 78th to 84th floors of the South Tower of the World Trade Center at about 590 miles per hour, causing a huge explosion.

The plane hit the South Tower at a left angle of nearly 45 degrees, indicating that the hijackers almost missed their target. Part of the wreckage of the plane passed through the east and north sides of the building. It fell six blocks away.

But at this time there was still a stairwell intact, so a few people above the impact point could still survive.

There were multiple explosions heard at the scene, some people thought it was two unrelated accidents, but more people immediately thought it was a terrorist attack.

Between 9:00 and 10:30, at least 20 people trapped by fire and smoke on the top floor of the building jumped from the sky. There is evidence that a large area in the middle of the north building collapsed immediately after the attack. Perhaps this made these people think that the building would collapse soon and jumped to survive.

A firefighter on the ground floor was killed by a jumper who fell from the sky.

Due to the heavy smoke and updrafts, air rescue operations could not be carried out, and New York City itself lacked helicopters dedicated to air rescue.

At nine o'clock, the Boston Air Traffic Control Center of the Federal Aviation Administration issued an order to suspend the takeoff of all aircraft within its jurisdiction. Immediately afterwards, the Federal Aviation Administration banned any aircraft from entering the airspace of New York and nearby Boston, Cleveland and Washington.

Two minutes later, the Federal Aviation Administration banned all aircraft in the United States from taking off that flew to or passed through New York's airspace. All avenues and bridges in New York City were closed.

At nine twenty-four, US President George Bush, who was visiting a primary school classroom in Florida, received news that the second plane had hit the World Trade Center. He immediately delivered a short speech in another classroom in the school after the class ended, saying that the United States was under attack by terrorists and that the US government would conduct a comprehensive investigation into the cause of the plane crash. In addition, he called the incident a national tragedy.

At the same time, the air defense department learned that American Airlines Flight 77 had been hijacked. They connected to discuss the company's Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 100. Subsequently, the Federal Aviation Administration announced a ban on all civil aviation flights across the country.

At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing aircraft, crashed into the West Wing of the Pentagon and caught fire. The attacked part had just been renovated. It had not yet been fully put into use, but it still caused the death of more than 100 people in the West Wing of the Pentagon.

At 9:45 a.m., the United States closed its airspace and prohibited any civil aviation flights from taking off. All flights in flight had to land immediately at the nearest airport, and all flights to the United States were immediately diverted to Canada.

Afterwards, Yang announced a flight ban, during which only military and rescue aircraft were allowed to take off. This was the fourth time in U.S. history that all commercial flights in the United States were stopped, and it was the only unplanned emergency measure. Before this, all aircraft were grounded due to national defense needs.

The White House and the U.S. Capitol were closed, and the surrounding areas were under martial law. President Bush left Florida.

At 9:59:04 a.m., the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. Through the live broadcast of the TV station, hundreds of millions of viewers around the world witnessed the collapse of the building.

At 10:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 crashed southeast of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The police investigation report showed that no one on board survived. Further investigation later showed that before the plane crashed, some passengers had contacted the ground through mobile phones and had learned that the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had been attacked.

After learning that they were about to become suicide bombers, at least three passengers risked their lives to fight back. They tried to regain control of the plane from the hijackers. It is very likely that the fierce resistance caused the plane to crash before reaching its destination.

People in the White House, Treasury Department, State Department and other major government agencies began to evacuate. Parts of the Pentagon collapsed. The United Nations headquarters in New York began to evacuate, affecting tens of thousands of people.

At 10:28:01, the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed from top to bottom. No one survived on the floors above the impact point.

There are three main reasons why the North Tower collapsed later than the South Tower: the impact point was higher, the plane was slower, and the fire protection system on the affected floors had been partially updated; the Marriott Hotel, the US Customs, the Hilton Hotel and other buildings near the twin towers were also damaged.

At 10:39 a.m., US President Bush ordered that in an emergency. The Air Force can shoot down any aircraft that may attack.

Washington and New York City have begun to carry out comprehensive evacuation work, the United Nations headquarters has been cleared, and a few minutes later, the mayor of New York ordered the evacuation of Manhattan.

In the incident, 2,998 people died, and a total of 411 rescue workers died in the incident. The terrorist attack on that day had a huge impact on the United States and the world. This incident was the second attack in history that caused heavy casualties to the United States after the Pearl Harbor incident during World War II.

This incident is also the most serious terrorist attack in human history to date. The US government's condemnation and position on this incident have also been sympathized and supported by most countries. There are various memorial activities around the world after the incident, and the cleanup of the scene will continue until the middle of the following year.

The incident caused a severe blow to the United States. People all over the world are terrified. Therefore, they firmly oppose the recurrence of similar incidents. The incident also led to international cooperation in anti-terrorist operations.

After the incident, the US economy was once paralyzed, causing direct economic losses and impacts on some industries.

The World Trade Center, located in Manhattan Island, New York, is a skyscraper built in the early 1970s. It cost as much as 1.1 billion US dollars and is a gathering place for world business forces. There are 1,200 companies from all over the world, 50,000 people working there on weekdays, and about 150,000 business personnel and tourists coming and going every day.

The two towering buildings were suddenly destroyed. The restoration of the Pentagon is at least hundreds of millions of dollars, and the loss of talent is difficult to estimate.

Whether for US President Bush, the American people or American politicians, the terrorist attack on September 11 was a historic shock.

Within two hours, thousands of casualties occurred in the United States. Even the White House, the President's Air Force One, the Department of Defense Building, and the World Trade Center, the financial center, became targets of terrorist attacks.

Moreover, transportation and tourism industries suffered serious losses. Four domestic flights in the United States were hijacked in one day, causing huge casualties and property losses, which is indeed rare in history.

After the incident, Bush immediately took appropriate actions to restore normal government and social activities to show that he was not threatened by terrorism. On the evening of September 11, although the White House was still threatened by attacks, he still decided to return to the White House and speak to the people of the country in the White House to show that terrorists could not block the operation of the US administrative center.

After the accident, Jobs was going to return to the United States. Unfortunately, the US government issued a flight ban. This was a waste of time. Fan Wubing comforted him that no matter how bad the situation was, it would not affect Apple. After all, this blow was more for the financial sector. For Apple, which is focused on high-tech products, the impact was not great. Moreover, the order and underwriting agreement signed between the two parties would not be affected by this incident.

"Even if Apple really encounters some difficulties because of this, there is no need to worry. As a partner, Fan Investment Group can share some of the pressure, whether it is economic," Fan Wubing expressed his attitude very responsibly.

"Thank you very much." Jobs said.

In fact, Jobs did not want to really reach that point. After all, as Fan Investment Group has extremely abundant cash flow, it is indeed very easy to acquire Apple if it finds a suitable opportunity. He does not want to change from a boss to an employee again.

However, who can tell clearly what is going on in this world? Just like the two World Trade Center buildings, they collapsed in the blink of an eye.

This world is actually still very crazy.

Today's first update is sent to Yihan (to be continued)