Survivors mark 30-year anniversary of 1993 World Trade Center bombing
Sunday marked the 30-year anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, when terrorists detonated a bomb that killed six people and injured more than 1,000.
According to the FBI's official account of the incident, the Feb. 26 bombing occurred just past noon, when Middle Eastern terrorists set off a bomb in a van parked underneath the North Tower of the WTC. The "massive eruption carved out a nearly 100-foot crater several stories deep and several more high," the FBI said, adding, "Six people were killed almost instantly. Smoke and flames began filling the wound and streaming upward into the building ... more than a thousand people were hurt in some way, some badly, with crushed limbs."
A ceremony remembering the victims was slated to take place Sunday in New York City, and survivors of that day reminisced about their memories of the attack.
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"In the days leading up to it, I don't sleep," survivor Tim Lang told The New York Times. "And that's already begun. February's here. So I have trouble."
Lolita Jackson was at her 72nd-floor desk in the WTC when she heard the explosion, and saw smoke start billowing from the elevator shaft. Eight years later, Jackson would have to flee again — when terrorists flew planes into the WTC during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, destroying the towers for good.
"I'm a living testament that it can happen to you, and it can happen to you twice." Jackson told The Associated Press. She told AP that she hoped the 1993 bombing serves as a reminder that "even though decades have passed since the seismic acts of terrorism in the United States' most populous city, no one, anywhere, can say the threat of mass violence is over."
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Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other Hollywood news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.
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