Do you remember where you were and what you were doing 10 years ago today? The day which came to be known in the English speaking world as 9/11 and in Spain as 11-S. September 11, 2001, the day that three planes hi-jacked by Al-Qaida terrorists crashed in the USA killing some 3000 people. Two planes hit the twin towers in Manhattan, New York and a third crashed in Pennsylvania on its way to the Pentagon with the loss of all on board.

I was visiting a school in Formby, Merseyside, with two colleagues that morning. As we were leaving, a teacher mentioned that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York. We stopped off at a pub for some lunch just in time to see on the TV the second plane fly into the Twin Towers. It was clearly no longer an air accident. Then we heard that a third plane had gone missing and appeared to be headed for the Pentagon.

It was a very disturbing experience watching live on TV the shocking events of the collapse of the two iconic towers, people jumping off the buildings, the dust, the mayhem, the screaming witnesses on the ground.

Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaida terrorist organisation soon became the suspects.

10 years on and the vivid memories will come flooding back today with massive global media coverage. The day the world changed for ever.

© Paul Whitelock

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