ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 - 20 years ago today - the world as knew it changed forever.
At 8.46am Eastern Daylight Time, American Airlines Flight 11 was flown into the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
Just 17 minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 was deliberately crashed into the South Tower, and barely 102 minutes after the first strike, both towers collapsed.
In many ways, the tragedy, which took the lives of 2,977 victims, shaped the next 20 years.
At the time, the disaster sent shockwaves across the globe, and both Newport and Gwent were very much in the blast radius in this regard.
Here at the Argus, things tend to work differently these days. The internet gives us instant access to information in a matter of seconds.
While 9/11 did not predate the web, and the Argus had a web presence at thisisgwent.co.uk, the paper was very much the focus.
In the hours and days after the attacks, it became a scramble to source information from across the Atlantic, and to piece it together by the time that the paper went to print.
But, the team did indeed manage to do this, not just on September 12, but day after day that followed.
Below, you can see how the Argus covered the 9/11 tragedy at the time.
September 12: Aftermath
The front page on September 12 showed the previously unimaginable images from the previous day, as firefighters started the lengthy process of sifting through charred and twisted metal in the hopes of finding signs of life.
Inside, page after page was dedicated to the global story, and, while many facets of the tragedy were still unclear, information was gradually being pieced together – such as the suspected perpetrators.
From a local angle, it was established that a Newport councillor who had been in the USA at the time was safe and well, as Pill councillor Ron Jones had been able to phone home to verify this.
It was also confirmed that the Welsh Development Agency (which would later form part of the Welsh Government) evacuated its staff from their New York office safely, while the Welsh Tourist Board office on Fifth Avenue was empty on this day due to staff holidays.
There was also a series of first person accounts of the horrors from those in New York at the time, as the rest of the world struggled to grasp the reality of what had happened.
Meanwhile, local politicians, including first minister Rhodri Morgan began sending tributes, sympathies, and condolences to those impacted by the situation.
One article proved to be especially foreshadowing, as aviation expert Jim Ferguson was quoted saying that “the face of aviation has been changed almost irreparably in the last three or four hours”.
As we’ve since come to see, Mr Ferguson was proved entirely correct.
September 13: 20,000 dead
The tragedy on September 11 has since been used as a precedent for disaster response during major incidents in the years that followed.
But at the time, nothing of its kind – on this scale, had ever happened before, and the scramble for information in the hours and days that followed was frenetic.
Two days after the incidents, it was still feared that as many as 20,000 people could have died, including 10,000 in the shopping mall underneath the Manhattan Centre.
Then-home secretary Jack Straw said that 100 Brits were confirmed to have been killed, but stressed that this could rise to as many as 500.
The final death toll confirmed that 67 people from the United Kingdom lost their lives.
Newport couple Karen and Eddie Bourke were in New York at the time of the attacks, and once they were confirmed safe and well, Karen’s mother Carol spoke with the Argus, giving a personal and local insight into the terror that she faced, while waiting for news.
Another Welsh woman, Carolyne Phillips, from Barry, was actually working in the World Trade Center, and felt the impact when the first plane struck. Thankfully, she was able to evacuate before the tower collapsed.
The day’s paper featured further reaction, as the world was starting to come to terms with the scale of what had happened.
September 14: Silent grieving
Three days on, and though search and rescue operations were ongoing, hope started to fade.
All told, only 23 people were rescued from the debris of the towers, and no survivors were found beyond the 27th hour after the collapse.
The Argus described the scenes as “the biggest outpouring of public grief since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales”, with a three minute silence held across Gwent, in what was a wider, European show of solidarity.
For three minutes, Newport and Gwent stood completely still.
Without social media as it is today, pictures and videos of the atrocity took longer than they might today to spread, but soon enough, there was no escaping the sight of the smouldering ruins in New York City.
Knowing of the psychological impact these scenes might have on people, Newport schoolchildren were asked how they were coping – with reality setting in that they would now be growing up in a very different world.
September 15: United in grief
Days later, and unsurprisingly, only one story was ever going to occupy to prime pages of the paper.
Again, it was a mix of tributes, and first hand accounts of everything that had transpired on the morning of September 11, 2001.
In just 102 minutes, headlines, pages, and online articles were shaped for days, weeks, and by now, decades to come.
Click through a gallery of clippings from the Argus at the time above.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here