Tony Arrigo; Who was the first eyewitness of the September 11 terror attacks, how did he explain the attack?

It’s 22 years since the World Trade Centre was attacked by two commercial passenger flights on September 11 2001, a day that set in motion a war on terror and the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and, by proxy, Saddam Hussein. The war on terror has become a polarising topic, with protests regarding the retaliation for the attack, countless documentaries covering conspiracy theories, some narrated by Charlie Sheen, and feature films regarding the heroes throughout the tragedy that unfolded.

But some heroes don’t get the acknowledgement they deserve at times, and one name that continually gets mentioned during the moment the first plane hit the North Tower on the day is New York resident Tony Arrigo. Who, you may ask?

Arrigo is considered one of the first eyewitnesses to the terror attack, being interviewed by a local New York news affiliate as many were trying to make sense of what had happened and what had occurred before United Airlines 175 hit the South Tower at 9:03am EDT.

The New York native saw the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, hit the World Trade Centre as he was innocuously just taking his rubbish outside from his home,  one of many at the time who thought it was a tragic accident - until later in the morning it was discovered it was an act of terror from Al-Qaeda as Bin Laden took responsibility for the attacks.

Tony Arrigo is part of September 11 folklore now due to his first eyewitness account of the attacks, but what he said at the time before the morning panned out how it horrifically did before the world changed post 9/11

Who was the first media outlet to interview Tony Arrigo?

NBC 4 New York was the first to talk to Tony Arrigo after the first plane had struck the World Trade Center at 8:46am EDT, alongside talking to a range of other witnesses, shortly after 8:50am EDT.

How did Tony Arrigo describe the first plane hitting the World Trade Center?

“I was taking my trash out when we heard these roaring engines coming, we looked up and there was a plane. Next thing you know we hear ‘boom’ and we ran up to the corner and it hit the World Trade Centre.”

When asked by the news presenter about the plane, Arrigo responded “It had to be a 737 that hit the World Trade Centre, it was a big, big plane.”

When asked what he could see at this moment, Arrigo stated there was “smoke and screaming, I mean screaming engines and all the fire engines and police department are all travelling down that way. Oh my god, almighty, the black smoke all over the place. I hope nobody… there’s got to be somebody killed in it and those poor people that went to work.”

When the news presenter told Arrigo there had been no official announcement regarding the plane crashing into the WTC and was asked to repeat what happened, Arrigo once again stated his movements going outside to dispose of trash. “We heard the roar of the planes, and looked up and next thing you know, boom. We went to the corner and there it was right in the middle of the World Trade Centre.”

Having returned inside the building he lived in, the news present then asked what he could see now, in which Arrigo admitted there were just crowds of people looking up at the WTC. “Oh of course they are in shock, the people in [my] building are still in shock. My god almighty, this is a real disaster. This is worse than the one that hit the Empire State Building,” referencing the 1945 Empire State Building B-25 crash.