Twenty-five years after the 9/11 attacks, CBS News cameraman Mark LaGanga has revisited the 29 minutes of footage he recorded between the collapses of New York’s Twin Towers — including the moment the North Tower came down around him.
LaGanga was sent towards lower Manhattan on the morning of 11 September 2001 after an assignment editor received reports that a small plane had struck a building. By the time he reached the World Trade Centre, the South Tower had already collapsed, although the scale of what had happened was not immediately clear to him.
He began filming shortly after 10am, moving through streets covered in dust and debris as workers and members of the public tried to make sense of the disaster. His camera captured rescue workers, disorientated survivors and the eerie silence that followed the first collapse.
LaGanga also recorded scenes inside 7 World Trade Centre, where windows had been blown out and rubble and broken glass covered the lobby. The building later collapsed that afternoon.
Mark LaGanga filmed the North Tower collapse
Near the base of the North Tower, LaGanga continued filming as smoke poured from the building. He said the surrounding city had lost its colour, with dust coating the streets, trees and emergency workers.
When the North Tower began to fall, LaGanga initially thought the sound overhead was a jet. He raised his camera towards the sky and continued recording as the building collapsed and a huge cloud of smoke and dust swept through the streets.
The camera lens was covered and the picture disappeared into darkness, but the recording continued for three minutes and 14 seconds. The tape captured coughing, shouting and the sound of people struggling to breathe before LaGanga emerged covered in dust, with a cut to his forehead.
“It sounded like a jet flying over,” LaGanga recalled. “That’s why I panned up.”
His CBS colleague John “Bo” Weitz feared that LaGanga had been killed when the North Tower fell. LaGanga, however, returned to Ground Zero and continued filming the rescue and recovery operation for a week after the attacks.
Reflecting on the footage, LaGanga said his role was to record what was happening without getting in the way. The images remain a rare first-hand account of the chaos and confusion in the 29 minutes between the two tower collapses.
