The Hindu report ‘Smoke, shock spread over New York’ published on September 12, 2001.
September 11, 2001, has gone down in history as the most devastating terror attack on one of the most powerful nations, which had ramifications across the globe. In a deadly series of blows, terrorists crashed two flights into the World Trade Center that brought down the twin 110-storey towers. The Hindu correspondent Sridhar Krishnaswami witnessed the horrifying events that unfolded in the New York City and extensively covered the attack aftermath from the ground.
Also read | 25 years after 9/11: What is at Ground Zero where the Twin Towers once stood
His article ‘Smoke, shock spread over New York’, appeared on the frontpage of the newspaper the next day, captured the chaotic atmosphere on the streets even as both people and law enforcement agencies were stumped by the kind of coordination and precision the terrorist acts had been executed on the U.S. soil.
On the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we reproduce the original article.
9/11 attacks: Photos that defined the day of terror
An American flag flies near the base of the destroyed world trade center in new york, September 11, 2001. Planes crashed into each of the two towers, causing them to collapse.
Emergency personnel work in the debris of the World Trade Centre in New York, Wednesday, September 12, 2001. Rescue workers dug for bodies in mountains of rubble as the city struggled to recover from an airborne attack on the World Trade Centre on Tuesday that shut down the nation’s financial capital and created a new skyline etched in terror.
Rescue workers and vehicles are deployed near the site of the World Trade Centre in New York, Wednesday, September 12, 2001.
Combo TV images show a tower of the World Trade Centre collapsing after two planes crashed into the complex on September 11, 2001, destroying New York’s mighty twin towers.
The 9/11 attack’s “falling man” was one of the most iconic and haunting images, depicting a person falling headfirst from the north tower of New York’s World Trade Centre on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
Smoke, flames and debris erupt from one of the World Trade Centre towers as a plane strikes it on September 11, 2001. The first tower was already burning following a terror attack minutes earlier. Terrorists crashed planes into the two buildings, causing both towers to collapse.
The south tower of the World Trade Centre bursts into flames after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175 in New York on September 11, 2001.
With the Brooklyn Bridge in the foreground, a plane explodes after hitting the second tower of the World Trade Centre as the other tower burns, in New York, September 11, 2001. Both towers of the complex collapsed after hijacked planes hit them.
The remaining tower of New York’s World Trade Centre, Tower 2, dissolves in a cloud of dust and debris about a half hour after the first Twin Tower collapsed September 11, 2001. The pictures were taken from across the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Firemen work around the World Tade Center after both towers collapsed in New York on September 11, 2001. The kamikaze airplane attacks that destroyed New York’s World Trade Centre and damaged the Pentagon on Tuesday were unprecedented in the history of civil aviation, security experts said.
In this September 11, 2001 photo made by the New York City Police Department and provided by ABC News, smoke and ash engulf lower Manhattan after terrorists flew two airliners into the World trade Centre towers.
A rescue helicopter surveys damage to the Pentagon as firefighters battle flames after an airliner crashed into the building in this September 11, 2001, file photo.
The World Trade Centre in New York City burns as a police helicopter flies nearby early September 11, 2001. Both towers were hit by planes crashing into the building. Shortly after this photo was taken, both towers fell.
Firefighters and emergency personnel remove debris from the site of the World Trade Centre towers’ collapse in New York, September 13, 2001.
An original piece of the Twin Towers, known as a “trident,” is lowered into its permanent location at the 9/11 Memorial Museum at ground zero in New York, Tuesday, September 7, 2010. Behind the “trident” is One World Trade Center, still under construction.
Firefighters raise a flag late in the afternoon on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, in the wreckage of the World Trade Centre towers in New York. In the most devastating terrorist onslaught ever waged against the United States, knife-wielding hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Centre, toppling its twin 110-story towers.
Photos of victims of the attacks of September 11, and messages from their loved ones, are shown at a news conference on September 10, 2012 in New York. On the eve of the September 11 anniversary, the faces and recorded voices of those who died were unveiled as part of the future 9/11 Memorial Museum.
A family member of an Israeli victim of the September 11 attacks, points to the victim’s name, engraved on a monument, during a memorial event at the 9/11 Living Memorial Plaza in Jerusalem on September 11, 2016.
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Smoke, shock spread over New York
The scene is truly tense in this city which has had its share of terrorism eight years ago. In 1993 an attack on the World Trade Center left six dead and more than 1000 injured. But this time around, no one is even tempted to make a guess. The twin towers of the World Trade Center are gone; only smoke is filling the air and one that can be seen miles away.
People run from the collapse of one of the twin towers at the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.
| Photo Credit:
AP
Thousands are moving away from the scene which the authorities have blocked to facilitate rescue efforts. And with the nation’s airports shut down, thousands are stranded and the authorities are trying to talk people into getting out of Lower Manhattan. People are milling around television sets in hotel lobbies or listening to radios on street corners. Some of the shops in this busy part of town that hardly goes to sleep have downed their shutters. And telephones and cell phones do not seem to be working. The frustration is very visible as one strolls down the street. In a time when roadside telephone booths seemed to be a thing of the past, there are actually lines of people wanting to use them, if a connection could be made. The hotel lines are not any different.
With the Brooklyn bridge in the foreground, a plane explodes after hitting the second tower of the World Trade Center as the other tower burns, in New York on September 11, 2001.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
If the authorities in Washington D.C. have declared a State of Emergency and called out the army to patrol sensitive areas, the National Guard in New York has got the call to augment the 40,000 police and 15,000 fire fighters. What has stunned intelligence and law enforcement agencies, as also the common man, is the kind of coordination and precision the terrorist acts had been executed. In a span of 18 minutes two planes rammed the World Trade Centre; shortly thereafter the Pentagon was hit. And at least two other civilian aircraft went down, for reasons that are now being determined. At least 110 people are said to have died in these two crashes.
Also read | 9/11: How The Hindu covered the terror attacks on USA
The first impression here and elsewhere is where intelligence went wrong; and some are already talking about the colossal intelligence failure. There will be a lot of soul searching on what it was that actually went wrong. Equally stunning is that terrorists have been able to target the actual nerve centres of the government, the Pentagon in particular.
For a long time, the worst case scenario planning was a group of terrorists crashing or blowing up a plane filled with deadly explosives over a crowded city. Very close to this happened in New York on Tuesday.
Published – September 11, 2026 07:30 am IST
