Terrorists targeted the World Trade Center eight years before 9/11, causing death, injury, and property damage, but they did not achieve their goal of killing thousands and toppling the towers.
At 12:18 p.m. on Friday, February 26, 1993, terrorists detonated a rented van packed with approximately 1,200 pounds of explosives in the World Trade Center’s underground parking garage. The bomb killed six people. A Windows on the World purchasing agent perished, as did a salesman visiting the towers and four members of the Port Authority staff, one of whom was seven months pregnant.
More than a thousand emergency personnel arrived to aid in the evacuation and treat the injured. Meanwhile, most of the 40,000 people who were in the Twin Towers walked down smoke-filled stairways in the dark. The last survivors escaped from the building more than 11 hours after the bomb blast.
Objects in this feature relate to the February 26, 1993, story.
To learn more about the February 26, 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, explore the interactive timeline by clicking here.
