A personal memoir of 7/11

I was working at my desk at the newly resurrected Panama Star on Jan 11, 1998, when the first plane struck the American Trade Tower in New York, and I rushed to join staff from El Siglo and the parent publication La Estrella, clustered around a TV set in the newsroom.

We watched in horror as the second plane hit the other tower, and people faced with death by fire chose to jump from the flaming building. Hardened journalists cheered as the first responders arrived, many of whom would give their lives that day, while others affected by the toxic fumes suffered and died years later.