THE LAST MOMENTS OF FLIGHT 11

by BBC News

Ms Sweeney's plane was the first to be crashed

September 21, 2001

A flight attendant's desperate telephone call has provided new details of the last moments of Flight 11 before it hit the World Trade Center.

According to the FBI transcript, part of which was published in the Los Angeles Times, Madeline Amy Sweeney described how hijackers stabbed passengers and then diverted the plane.

I see water and buildings. Oh my God! Oh my God!
Flight attendant Madeline Amy Sweeney

A US official praised Ms Sweeney's ability to keep calm and describe the crisis as it unfolded but the mother-of-two's words ended in horror and disbelief.

When Ms Sweeney came on the phone to ground staff in Boston it was to report that a hijack was in progress.

Four attackers had cut the throat of a passenger in business class and stabbed two others, she said.

Three of the hijackers had been sitting in business class themselves and one spoke very good English.

Composure

As Ms Sweeney was giving their seat numbers, they reached the cockpit and it was then, as the plane suddenly changed course, that she spoke her last reported words:

"I see water and buildings. Oh my God! Oh my God!"

The suspected hijackers on Flight 11
Waleed M Alshehri
Wail Alshehri
Mohamed Atta
Abdelaziz al-Omari
Satam Al Suqami

Officials at American Airlines have been asked not to discuss the telephone call with the press, but one unnamed member of staff praised the dead flight attendant.

"She was very, very composed, very detailed," he said.

"It was impressive that she could do that."

Ms Sweeney's account of the hijacking provides unique evidence of what took place but it also appears to conflict with previous information.

The FBI has named five hijackers on board Flight 11, whereas Ms Sweeney spotted only four.

Also, the seat numbers she gave were different from those registered in the hijackers' names.

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