9 - 11 memorial page

Today marks the 7th anniversary of the 9 - 11 tragedy when the twin towers were brought down by the terrorist attacks. Down below is the time line of the sequence of happenings...

7.58 - United Airlines Flight 175 to Los Angeles leaves Boston's Logan Airport with 65 people on board, including five suspected hijackers.

8.01 - United Airlines Flight 93 to San Francisco leaves Newark Airport in New Jersey with 45 people on board, including four suspected hijackers.

8.02 - American Airlines Flight 11 to Los Angeles leaves Boston's Logan Airport with 92 people and five suspected hijackers on board.

8. 10 - American Airlines Flight 77 to Los Angeles leaves Washington DC's Dulles Airport with 64 people on board, including five suspected hijackers.

8.28 - An air traffic controller hears one of the hijackers speaking from the cockpit of Flight 11, saying: "Don't do anything foolish. You are not going to get hurt. We have other planes."

8.43 - Two F-15 fighters take off after authorities confirm that Flight 175 has also been hijacked.

8.46 - Flight 11 crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center.

9.03 - Flight 175 crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center.

9.10 - President George Bush is told of the attacks. He had been reading to children in a classroom.

9.29 - Eyewitnesses report seeing people jumping from the Twin Towers.

9.40 - Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon in Washington DC, causing the collapse of a five-storey section of the building and killing 190 people inside.

9.58 - A passenger from Flight 93 makes an emergency call saying: "We are being hijacked!"

10.03 - Flight 93 crashes 80 miles south east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its intended target was believed to be Washington.

10.05 - The south tower collapses, 62 minutes after being hit.

10.29 - The north tower collapses. The death toll was feared to be as high as 20,000 but gradually dropped to about 2,800.

A memorial is being erected at the place where the twin towers stood majestically.

The Depart of Defense Web site describes the memorial units as being “at once a glowing light pool, a cantilevered bench and a place for permanent inscription of each victim’s name.” The park was designed to create an atmosphere of “peace and remembrance.”

The groundbreaking statement on the memorial’s entry stone reads: “We claim this ground in remembrance of the events of Sept. 11, 2001 to honor the 184 people whose lives were lost, their families, and all those who sacrifice that we may live in freedom. We will never forget.”

A dedication ceremony was held the morning of Sept. 11 for invited guests, and the memorial will be open for the public beginning at 7:00 p.m. that evening. The memorial will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days week year-round. Visitors are encouraged to use public transportation; parking is not available.

Plans for a memorial in New York City at the Word Trade Center site are underway, with an expected completion date of 2011. A Pennsylvania memorial, commemorating the lives lost in Flight 93, also is scheduled to be completed by 2011.