[custom_adv] An otherwise undistinguished estate sale purchase yielded an incredible archive of never-before publicly seen photographs of the Ground Zero clean-up operation, providing a haunting glimpse of 9/11’s immediate aftermath. [custom_adv] Discovered on a series of damaged CD’s, the some 2,400 images were captured on a Canon Powershot G1 by a currently unidentified member of the World Trade Center clean-up crew who has since died from complications related to his work on the site. [custom_adv] Taken from above and on the ground, the cache of pictures in large show workers and heavy machinery submerged in a deep and ominous chasm of scorched steel, folded metal and the skeletal outlines of office floors which had, just days before, brimmed and bustled with a human pulse. [custom_adv] Others document a desolate and apocalyptic view from overhead, showing once renowned tourist hot-spots, such as the Winter Garden Atrium, beaten, dust-clad and lifeless. [custom_adv] But amid the devastation, the anonymous documenter was able to capture understated human moments too, with workers seen sharing a smile or jokingly gesturing towards his lens on their break. [custom_adv] All of the images were taken in the direct wake of the September 11 attacks, with the vast majority dating between mid-September and October, 2001. [custom_adv] They had been hidden away on a CD in storage until Dr. Johnathan Burgess and his wife acquired the discs recently at an estate sale. [custom_adv] ‘My significant other acquired them at an estate sale as we collect and archive vintage media for public benefit,’ Dr. Johnathan Burgess told PetaPixel. ‘I handle a lot of the Internet and archival end of it, and she loves the fieldwork end of it.’ [custom_adv] The couple then passed the images over to fellow archivist, Jason Scott, who has since uploaded the pictures to a Flickr album. [custom_adv] Scott said on Twitter that while the CDs containing the photos had rotted in the 18 years since 9/11, thankfully he was still able to extract the photos. [custom_adv] The September 11 attacks claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people, after four hijacked commercial airliners flew into the North and South World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. [custom_adv] After just 102 minutes, both of the iconic 110-story towers that had dominated New York’s skyline for nearly three decades collapsed. [custom_adv] The effects of which continue to pose threats to survivors today, with as many as 45,000 people thought to be suffering from at least one 9/11-related chronic disease, according to US Senator Kirsten Gilibrand. [custom_adv] Many of the afflicted contingent were first-responders and members of the Ground Zero cleaning crew. 'Today, Jon Stewart testified about the important of extending the 9/11 fund past 2020, to handle the health and welfare of first responders who went to Ground Zero and worked there, suffering greatly in the years hence,' Scott tweeted on June 11, with a thread containing a number of the images. [custom_adv] 'We lost this photographer and many people who were there are sick, dying, and miserable from work they did at Ground Zero during those early months. They were told the area was all-clear and safe. It is quite obvious it was not. Jon Stewart's plea for funding is in the right.' [custom_adv] At 8:32 am FAA officials were notified Flight 11 had been hijacked and they, in turn, notified the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). NORAD scrambled two F-15s from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts and they were airborne by 8:53 am. [custom_adv] Because of slow and confused communication from FAA officials, NORAD had 9 minutes' notice that Flight 11 had been hijacked, and no notice about any of the other flights before they crashed. After both of the Twin Towers had already been hit, more fighters were scrambled from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia at 9:30 am.
