Dramatic Unseen Photos of 9/11 Attack Found in Family Album
Emotive photos of the September 11 terror attack on New York City's Twin Towers that have never been shared publicly have now been found in a family photo album.
Liam Evea, 19, found his great aunt Maryann's photos in a Valentine's Day-themed photo album. Liam was born in White Plains, New York, but is now based in Connecticut.
"Through the photos, I determined that she lived in an apartment at 310 Greenwich Street in New York City whose terrace faced south toward the World Trade Center. On that day and in the aftermath, she took the photographs on a type of disposable camera," Evea told Newsweek.
"I determined that she lived there by looking at an aerial photograph of the buildings and locating the nearest residential high-rise north of the towers. Also, when I showed my mother the building, she instantly recognized it from a 1990s visit and confirmed that Maryann lived there," Evea said.
The photos were later developed and bound in the Valentine's Day photo album. Maryann eventually passed the photos to her sister, Evea's late grandmother, who gave them to him about four years ago. But it was only in February that he scanned them, and he published them on Reddit last week.
"I was compelled to post them on Reddit because I hoped people would find them interesting, given that the most iconic photos of the events were taken from a distance, on the ground near the buildings, or from the sky. These photos show the towers from a close residence," he said.
On September 11, 2001, the Al-Qaeda militant group launched four co-ordinated terror attacks on the United States. American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were crashed into the North Tower and South Tower of the World Trade Center complex in New York City.
American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth airliner, United Airlines Flight 93, was brought down near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after the passengers fought the four hijackers before it reached its target, believed to be the Capitol Building or the White House.
The impact of the crash caused the South Tower to collapse after burning for nearly an hour. The North Tower followed minutes later after burning for 102 minutes.
It was the deadliest terror attack in history, killing 2,977 people and injuring 25,000. There were also many who suffered long-term health issues as a result of the destruction.
Evea says he has always been fascinated by the historical significance of photojournalism, particularly regarding 9/11 attacks.
"I was born in its aftermath and the outset of the war on terror. My mother, Lisa, had taken a Circle Line tour around Lower Manhattan a few weeks before the attacks (while I was still in the womb) and my father, Frank, was an audio engineer with NBC who would have been near the base of the towers on 9/11 but declined to go after the North Tower was struck."
