The only known aerial photographs of the World Trade Center as it collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, were released by ABC News on Wednesday.
This photo taken Sept. 11, 2001 by the New York City Police Department and obtained by ABC News, which claims to have obtained it under the Freedom of Information Act, shows smoke and ash engulfing the area around the World Trade Center in New York. (AP Photo/NYPD via ABC News, Det. Greg Semendinger)
The photos, taken from a helicopter by New York Police Det. Greg Semendinger, show the twin towers in flames, falling amid huge, billowing clouds of dust, debris and smoke that envelop downtown Manhattan.
This photo taken Sept. 11, 2001 by the New York City Police Department and obtained by ABC News, which claims to have obtained it under the Freedom of Information Act, shows smoke and ash engulfing the area around the World Trade Center in New York. (AP Photo/NYPD via ABC News, Det. Greg Semendinger)
The 13 photographs were among thousands of pictures that ABC News sought under the Freedom of Information Act from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which investigated the collapse of the towers, agency spokeswoman Gale Porter said.
This photo taken Sept. 11, 2001 by the New York City Police Department and obtained by ABC News, which claims to have obtained it under the Freedom of Information Act, shows smoke billowing from one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York. (AP Photo/NYPD via ABC News, Det. Greg Semendinger)
While other photographs of the falling towers were taken on Sept. 11, 2001 from satellites, rooftops and other aircraft, these photos are the only ones known to have been taken up close from an aircraft flying overhead in city airspace.
In this Sept. 11, 2001 photo made by the New York City Police Department and provided by ABC News Tuesday Feb. 9, 2010, smoke and ash rise as a World Trade Center tower burns at left center, after terrorists flew two airliners into the World Trade Center towers. AP Photo/NYPD, via ABC News, Det. Greg Semendinger )
Nearly 3,000 people died when the twin towers were attacked by hijacked airliners. The aerial photographs had been partially published in the past but now are publicly available to researchers.
This photo taken Sept. 11, 2001 by the New York City Police Department and obtained by ABC News, which claims to have obtained it under the Freedom of Information Act, shows smoke and ash engulfing the area around the World Trade Center in New York. (AP Photo/NYPD via ABC News, Det. Greg Semendinger)
“With these pictures, you move from a specific slice of information to much greater context,” said Jan Ramirez, chief curator at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
This photo taken Sept. 11, 2001 by the New York City Police Department and obtained by ABC News, which claims to have obtained it under the Freedom of Information Act, shows smoke and ash engulfing the area around the World Trade Center in New York. (AP Photo/NYPD via ABC News, Det. Greg Semendinger) (Content courtesy: Reuters)