Three of the Daily Mail’s most experienced reporters have relived their reporting 9/11 and its aftermath on the latest Deep Dive podcast, marking the 25th anniversary of the terror attacks.
Each journalist provides recollections and analysis of the tragedy from a unique point of view. Former chief reporter David Williams was one of the leading figures in the London newsroom on September 11, 2001.
He would stay there for four months Afghanistan reporting the opening salvo of the US-led invasion, as coalition forces began the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda terrorist who masterminded the attacks.
Stephen Wright, former head Crime Correspondent was sent to New York to cover the immediate aftermath. He boarded the first cautious flight from Heathrow to the city. As a crime reporter, his career would be profoundly shaped by the era of terrorism that the attacks ushered in.
Former US correspondent Sarah Chalmers was the only Daily Mail reporter on the ground when planes hit the Twin Towers. She archived the newspaper’s first dispatches from New York, amid all the confusion that erupted after history’s deadliest terrorist attack.
“I remember standing in our little office watching the television,” Chalmers continued Deep dive.
Former US correspondent Sarah Chalmers was the only Daily Mail reporter on the scene when planes hit the Twin Towers
“I looked at this reporter and behind his head you saw a plane flying diagonally toward the south tower. I remember thinking: it’s going to work.
‘From that moment on it was chaos. It was like no other news day I’ve ever experienced. You knew immediately it wasn’t an accident.
‘The city was just full of disoriented people, dirty, traumatized, covered in ashes. They just walked in every direction, away from the Towers.
‘People had to walk for hours to get home. The bridges, the tunnels, the routes to New Jersey and Connecticut were all closed.
“I remember I barely slept that night because I could see the place from one of my back windows. The place was illuminated and the noise was deafening. It felt like the start of a third world war.
‘I thought we were all going to die. I’m 3,000 miles away from everyone I love, and we’re all dying here.”
The morning after the Towers fell, Chalmers got as close as possible to Ground Zero to report on what was still called the rescue effort.
What she found was a “horrifying sight,” made worse by the growing realization that the crew’s search for survivors was in vain. Nearly 2,750 people died in the World Trade Center.
Chalmers filed the paper’s first stories from New York, amid all the confusion that erupted after the deadliest terror attack in history
The morning after the Towers fell, Chalmers got as close as possible to Ground Zero to report on what was still called the rescue effort.
“It looked like a war zone, there was dust and debris everywhere,” Chalmers said.
‘Little fragments of things people had on their desks: torn pieces of post-it, a lip gloss, little cuddly toys. The most extraordinary spread of personal waste, making it clear that it could have been anyone. How normal those lives were.
“There were a lot of rescuers down there. Members of the fire brigade, a lot of doctors, all ready. You had an extraordinary scene where people came through some kind of fog.
‘These medics appeared in some kind of hazmat suits, covered from head to toe in dust, with the most ghostly look in their eyes.
“One after another they came in, shook their heads and just said, ‘There’s no one, there’s no one.’
Hear more from Sarah, plus David and Stephen’s perspectives, by searching Deep Dive, wherever you get your podcasts.
There you can also find a minute-by-minute account of the September 11 attacks, narrated by host Michael Buerk, where you can follow the day as it unfolded.
