It almost feels sacrilegious to write this: MAUREEN CALLAHAN’s unobstructed view of 9/11, the phone call she’ll never forget… and horrors only New Yorkers know
In a first-person piece marking the 25th anniversary of 11 September 2001, Daily Mail columnist Maureen Callahan recounts watching the terrorist attacks unfold from her Brooklyn apartment, which had an unobstructed view across the East River to the Twin Towers. She reflects on the reluctance many New Yorkers feel discussing that day, given the scale of loss suffered by others, particularly first responders who worked at Ground Zero and later succumbed to cancer and respiratory illness, but says she is sharing her account for the historical record.
Callahan describes being warned by her brother Bill by phone that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, initially dismissing fears of terrorism before watching the second plane strike the South Tower from her window. She recalls the city shutting down its bridges, subways, tunnels and airspace, growing fears that further attacks might follow at the Pentagon, in Pennsylvania and possibly Los Angeles, and her brother later driving at high speed to get her out of the city that evening.
- Columnist recalls witnessing 9/11 attacks from her Brooklyn apartment
- Piece marks the 25th anniversary of the September 2001 attacks
- Recounts brother's warning call and the city's shutdown that day
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Watching from Brooklyn on 11 September 2001, Maureen Callahan had a clear view across the East River as two hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in Manhattan, in what became one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in US history. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day, including many of the firefighters and police officers who responded to the scene, known as Ground Zero. In the years since, thousands more responders have died from cancers and lung diseases linked to the toxic dust at the site.
Callahan is a columnist for the Daily Mail who lived in New York at the time and is now recounting her personal memories of the day to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks. Her account centres on a phone call from her brother Bill, who alerted her to the first plane hitting the towers, and what she then witnessed unfold from her apartment window.
The piece forms part of wider anniversary coverage reflecting on how the attacks reshaped New York City and had lasting effects on security policy, public life and the health of those who worked at the site.