Ten Numerical Facts About 9/11

Each week I set out to research and document ten “fun facts” on a topic loosely based on the two books I’ve reviewed that week.  “Loosely” being the operative word. 

This week I reviewed Ghostways by MacFarlane/Donwood/Richards, two stories specific to particular places (one of which, Orford Ness, is a former military testing ground) and journalist Garrett M. Graff’s The Only Plane in the Sky, an oral history of 9/11.

There is of course no opportunity for “fun facts” when the subject is 9/11. Something else is needed for this week’s post, and I’ve settled on Ten Numerical facts instead.

There are some connections between the themes of the two books I could have commented on – Ghostways uses geography as an entry into history and remembrance (as the title hints at), while 9/11 is an event those of us who were alive when it happened will always remember. So remembrance could have been a theme. Or geography, given that 9/11 was an event with international impact, and Ghostways is tied to it’s specific places.

But after a lot of thought I decided numbers would keep the focus on 9/11 itself. Because listening to the audiobook The Only Plane in the Sky was an emotional experience that brought back many of the feelings from that day and the days immediately after it, I’m still thinking about it days after having finished it. 

There are two (2) connections I have found that can be made between the events of 9/11 and the Orford Ness of Ghostways, along with many significant numbers from 9/11 that may help to bring the event back into focus after 20 years. Nine-Eleven is after all an event which we all remember by it’s numerical date. And so I settled on my theme for this week – Ten Numerical Facts about 9/11:

Ten Numerical Facts About 9/11

1. One – Prior to 9/11 the World Trade Center in New York was the subject of 1 previous terrorist attack. In 1993 two al Qaeda terrorists drove a rental van loaded with explosives into an underground parking garage beneath the South Tower. They ignited a 20 foot fuse and fled. The resulting explosion blew through four sublevels, cut off electricity at the Trade Center, caused the death of 6 people, and injured around 1000. 50,000 people were evacuated. The terrorists had hoped that the bomb would cause the South Tower to collapse into the North Tower resulting in the death of tens of thousands of people. Ramzi Yousef, the planner and bomber, was the nephew of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was considered the architect of the 9/11 attacks eight years later.

2. Two– There are two interesting connections I’ve found between this week’s two books.

3. Four – On the morning of 9/11/2001 four US commercial aircraft were hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists. Because they were transcontinental flights all four were fully loaded with jet fuel. The four flights were:

4. Seven – The World Trade Center complex in New York included 7 buildings, the tallest being the Twin Towers. The aircraft striking the Twin Towers on 9/11 caused fires in both buildings, and the heat of the burning jet fuel from the aircraft caused both buildings to sustain significant structural damage and to collapse within a couple hours of having been struck. A combination of falling debris from the Twin Towers, and the spread of fire from that debris, caused the partial or complete collapse of the remaining five Trade Center buildings. 10 other large structures in the immediate vicinity also suffered catastrophic damage.

5. Nineteen – A total of 19 al Qaeda members, all men, were involved in the hijacking plot. 15 of the men were from Saudi Arabia, 2 from the United Arab Emirates and one each from Egypt and Lebanon.

6. Ninety – Among the victims of the 9/11 attacks were citizens of over 90 countries, as recognized by the US State Department on the 5th anniversary of the attacks. Nations range from Antigua to Zambia. The second highest death toll after US citizens were citizens of the UK, with 67 deaths.

7. One Hundred Twenty Five – Working in or visiting the Pentagon that morning were 125 people who lost their lives when Flight 77 was intentionally crashed into the building.

8. Two Hundred Sixty Five – Altogether 265 people who were onboard the 4 flights, including the 19 terrorists, were killed in the crashes.

9. Two Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty Three – Finalizing the total death toll at the World Trade Center site took a number of years. Initial estimates were as high as 6,700 people, but quickly settled into the range of 3,000. In 2004 New York City issued a “final official” toll of 2,749. Of this number only 1,538 were identified through physical remains. In 2007, 2009 and again in 2011 officials added victims whose deaths were caused by exposure to the airborne dust from the collapsed buildings, bringing the toll to 2,753. This includes 344 firefighters and 71 law enforcement officers. It does not include these additional people:

10. Four Thousand – Over 4,000 aircraft (the exact number is not known) were in US airspace at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and were ordered into immediate “ground stop”. All these planes were diverted to the nearest available airport. This unplanned ground stop was unprecedented and resulted in thousands of people being stranded in cities they had not intended to be in. Over 60 international flights inbound to the US were instead diverted to Halifax Nova Scotia, resulting in 12,000 stranded passengers in that city alone. Ben Sliney, the chief of Air Traffic Control on that day, and the man who ordered the ground stop, was on his first day on the job. 

Those are my ten numerical facts about 9/11. Do you have memories of 9/11? Have you listened to Graff’s audiobook? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.