Only 29 minutes passed between the two World Trade Center towers falling. CBS News photojournalist Mark LaGanga captured the eerie scene up close
In the moment, Mark LaGanga did not know.
As the CBS News photojournalist on September 11, 2001, he did not know he was headed toward the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. He was unaware that the south tower had already collapsed in on itself, and he could not have imagined the north tower would fall shortly thereafter, engulfing him and everyone around him in a thick cloud of ashen debris.
All he knew was that he had to stay and film it.
Twenty-one years after the September 11th terrorist attack, the footage LaGanga captured that morning provides a unique firsthand account of the rescue workers at ground zero moments after the two planes hit. LaGanga’s footage gives viewers a rare, up-close look at the 29 minutes of dust, confusion, and stillness in between the time the two World Trade Center towers collapsed.
Earlier that morning, LaGanga’s cell phone and home landline rang simultaneously. An editor on the CBS News national desk was calling and directed him to drive to downtown Manhattan to shoot what, at that time, was thought to be a plane crash into a building in lower Manhattan.
