CHAPEL HILL – At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001, American Airlines flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center after being hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists.

***Ron Stutts and Ran Northam on the WCHL Morning News September 11, 2013***

(Interviews: Former senator, Ellie Kinnaird, Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, Carrboro Aldermen member Lydia Lavelle, host of Who’s Talking on WCHL, D.G. Martin, and local activist, Fred Black)

Almost no one knew what was going on until 17 minutes later when things began to become a little more clear.

At 9:03 a.m., United flight 175 struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center after also being hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists.

Two more planes crashed in the next hour: at 9:37 a.m., five more terrorists flew American Airlines flight 77 into the Pentagon; at 10:03 a.m., the final plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania southeast of Pittsburg, claiming all the lives of United flight 93, including the four hijackers.

Weeks after the attacks, more than 6,000 were estimated to be killed. However, when the deaths were confirmed, the number rested at just less than 3,000.

In the World Trade Center, 2,606 people were confirmed dead including police and fire officials, EMS and First Responders; and 147 people died on the two planes, plus the ten hijackers; at the Pentagon, 125 people died, with 59 lives claimed from the flight, plus the five hijackers; and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 40 people died, plus the four hijackers.

Each year at 8:46 a.m., America pauses to remember the lives lost.

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