Survivors above south tower impact zone share accounts of that morning

The United States observed the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on Friday, with commemoration ceremonies held at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and at a field in western Pennsylvania where the fourth hijacked airliner crashed. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people. The Guardian assembled personal accounts, archival images, and correspondent analyses as part of its anniversary coverage, including interviews with survivors above the south tower’s impact zone and the daughter of a flight attendant killed aboard American Airlines flight 11.

The Guardian’s reporting included an assessment from its international security correspondent that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden’s wider plans failed, and a separate account from its Washington bureau chief documenting what the newspaper described as the “dark legacy” of US governments’ response — including the Guantánamo Bay detention facility and the Abu Ghraib scandal.

The newspaper reported that 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized control of four airliners that morning, slamming two of the planes into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania.

For its 25th-anniversary coverage, the Guardian published personal accounts from survivors and victims’ family members. Washington bureau chief David Smith interviewed Stanley Praimnath and Brian Clark, two of only four individuals known to have survived above the impact zone in the south tower, about their experiences on the morning of the second plane’s strike.

Ramon Antonio Vargas spoke with Anna Sweeney Rossman, who was 5 years old when her mother, Amy Sweeney, a flight attendant aboard American Airlines flight 11, was killed. The Guardian reported that Sweeney Rossman told Vargas the events of that day have cast a shadow on her life over the past quarter-century.

Robert Tait collected accounts from CIA veterans who described the chaos and confusion inside the agency as the unprecedented attacks unfolded. Guardian readers also submitted their own testimonies about how September 11 reshaped their lives over the 25 years since.

In a published analysis, Jason Burke, the Guardian’s international security correspondent, wrote that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden may have shaken the world on September 11 but that it is clear today his wider plans failed.

In a separate piece, Smith wrote that the day saw heroes emerge showing the best of America while also documenting what the newspaper characterized as the “dark legacy” of US governments’ response — including the Guantánamo Bay detention facility and the Abu Ghraib scandal — which, the Guardian reported, “continues to unfold to this day.”

Photographer Phil Buehler’s images of the missing-persons posters posted in the confusing aftermath of the towers’ collapse will form part of a new exhibition, with the Guardian publishing some of the photographs in advance of the opening.

The newspaper said its thoughts remain with the victims, their families, and all those whose lives were irrevocably changed 25 years ago.