Child witnesses 9/11, credits fate with survival

In New York City on September 11, 2001, 12-year-old Jay Nyandak was in school a block from the World Trade Center when the attacks began.

He had forgotten to get his mother’s signature on a field trip permission slip and called her at her workplace, American Express, to ask her to sign it. This call inadvertently changed her plans and brought her back towards his school just before the first plane struck the towers.

Nyandak witnessed the aftermath of the attacks from his schoolyard, observing the towers burning and people standing frozen in shock. He then waited anxiously for his mother, eventually reuniting with her and fleeing north through Manhattan with other evacuees. He later learned that a teacher he knew had lost a brother on one of the hijacked planes.

Twenty-five years later, Nyandak reflected on the events, noting his surprise at recent guidance from the CBC instructing journalists not to describe the attacks as terrorism. The CBC has since reversed this guidance. He emphasizes the importance of accurately labeling the events as a terrorist attack, especially as time passes and fewer people have direct memories of that day.