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Two and a half decades after the deadliest terror attack in modern history claimed almost 3,000 lives, the world is still haunted by September 11, 2001.
As images of ash-covered survivors, the 'jumpers' facing an unthinkable fate, and heartbroken relatives continue to flash across our screens year after year, only those who witnessed the horror firsthand can truly convey what it was like that day.
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it → see → what
He was New York City's fire commissioner during the attacks and lost 343 firefighters who sacrificed their lives to save those trapped inside the burning Twin Towers that fateful Tuesday morning.
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who → lose → Towers
Speaking to the Daily Mail, von Essen, now 80, has shared his heartbreaking memories of the attacks and issued a stark warning to governments today, saying they must remember the lessons of September 11 and ensure the conditions that allowed such an atrocity to happen are never allowed to take hold again.
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atrocity → speak → hold
When Essen arrived to work on what he describes as a 'beautiful, clear day', in September, he could never have imagined what would unfold in the coming hours.
'
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what → arrive → hours
I got a report that a small plane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
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plane → get → Center
I could see it [from where I was] actually, and I said, "Oh, it looks like a lot of smoke."
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it → see → smoke
'
'I figured it was some rich guy who got drunk or whatever and crashed into the building,' he said.
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he → figure → building
He rushed to the scene as fast as he could.
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he → rush → scene
'I got there very quickly.
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I → get → ?
The windows were already blown out on the ground, and I was walking through one of the windows, when about 15 feet away from me, I heard this horrible thud.
Smoke billows from one of the towers of the World Trade Center as flames and debris explode
Thomas von Essen (L) with New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik (C), Mayor Rudy Giuliani (C) and President George W Bush (R) in the days following 9/11
People run from the collapse of World Trade Center on September 11, 2001
'
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People → blow → September
I looked, and it was a person who had fallen or jumped from the sky.'
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who → look → sky
He didn't know it at the time, but this was one of an estimated 200 to 300 'jumpers' who would, over the course of the morning, make the heartbreaking choice to end their lives rather than suffocate to death on the upper floors of the World Trade Center.
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who → know → Center
'When I got in the lobby, my fire chiefs said,
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chiefs → get → lobby
The former fire commissioner recounted the horrifying moment they realised the extensive damage to the building, and that the water lines had all been severed.
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lines → recount → building
We weren't going to be able to put the fire out.
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We → go → fire
We were doing the best we could to evacuate people.
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we → do → people
But we knew that those above the 90th floor were going to die.'
Then, at 9:03am, the South Tower was hit.
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Tower → know → 9:03am
'We felt this big vibration - we thought it was an explosion in the elevator shaft.
'
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it → feel → shaft
Someone walked in, and they yelled, "Commissioner, the South Tower was hit."
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Tower → walk → ?
'When the second plane hit, of course, that's when everybody thought: "Oh my God, we're being attacked, we're at war."
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we → hit → war
Von Essen quickly realised that the scale of the disaster was beyond the capabilities of the fire department, but his firefighters immediately began working to evacuate those trapped inside the towers.
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firefighters → realise → towers
Thanks to the bravery of the FDNY, an estimated 15,000 to 18,000 people were able to escape the burning buildings that day.
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people → estimate → buildings
'We did the best we could to coordinate everything, but the rest of the day just got worse and worse as we started to find out how many people we lost,' von Essen recounted.
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Essen → do → people
Following a previous 1993 bombing, emergency plans called for people to remain in one tower if the other was attacked.
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other → follow → tower
So when the North Tower was struck, those inside the South Tower were initially told to stay where they were.
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they → strike → Tower
More than two decades later, von Essen still carries the weight of that decision.
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Essen → carry → decision
'If everybody had been evacuated immediately from the South Tower, we wouldn't have lost anybody.
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we → evacuate → anybody
But did we know another jet plane was gonna hit the South Tower?
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plane → know → Tower
Von Essen lost 343 of his men at Ground Zero that day.
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Essen → lose → Zero
In the aftermath, emergency crews spent days combing through the wreckage, desperately searching for survivors buried beneath the rubble.
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crews → spend → rubble
A person falls head first from the north tower of New York's World Trade Center
Thomas Von Essen (L) at a press conference alongside Mayor Rudy Giuliani (C) and Police Comissioner Bernard Kerik (R) in November 2001
People make their way through a cloud of caustic dust while fleeing Ground Zero on 9/11
'
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People → fall → 9/11
I thought maybe there would be a piece of steel and a piece of concrete, and some young, innocent woman or man would be under there, breathing with a little bit of water dropping, and they'd survive for a few days, and we'd get them out.
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we → think → them
But we had no survivors after the first day.'
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we → have → day
Von Essen recounted the hellish weeks that followed, attending the funerals of close colleagues while struggling to cope with his own grief and despair.
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that → recount → grief
'To be the commissioner that lost more people than anybody ever before him was exceptionally painful for someone like me.
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that → lose → me
'Going to the funerals and seeing a young woman in the first row of the church with a couple of kids sitting next to her, or a mother and father sitting there who had lost their son... it was horrible, I can't even describe it.
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I → go → it
We couldn't even give [families] the remains.
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We → give → remains
And you think things are bad, but then when you can't even give somebody the remains of their loved one, you realise, it could be worse.'
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it → think → one
Von Essen, who still tears up at the mention of his fallen colleagues, now has strong words for politicians he believes are allowing a climate of mass migration and rising extremism to take hold in their countries.
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climate → tear → countries
I think we're really stupid, to a degree which is hard for me to believe.
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me → think → degree
…and 33 more, not listed.
