Twin Towers Garage 2.26.1993

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 partook. 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 Nikon 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.

This image was taken several hours after the blast. Emergency personell undertake their search through the wreckage within the parking garage where the bomb was set off. Utility workers lend support at the garage's entrance. Notice the large pile of air tanks on the left side of the garage opening.
- Eric Ascalon