Twin Towers Responders 2.26.93

On February 26, 1993, while an undergraduate at Rutgers, I was driving in lower Manhattan on my way to the World Trade Center to conduct research for an internship in which I was enrolled. A few minutes before I was to arrive, with the Twin Towers in full site, I learned on the radio that there had been an explosion within one of the buildings. I pulled my car to the side of the road, grabbed my vintage F-series Nikon (loaded with a roll of B&W film) and ran a few blocks to the site not knowing what to expect. As I arrived, an orderly mass of people has just begun to made a grand exodus from the buildings. First responders had just started arriving at the scene.

I just found six long-lost images I took that day (many more are still missing). Though I don't hold myself out as being much of a photographer, the drama of the subject matter here made up for my shortcomings.

In this image, taken from a pedestrian walkway, emergency response vehicles line the streets and fire hoses are deployed. The Tower is to the far right.
- Eric Ascalon