Guernsey man reflects on surviving 9/11 on the 25th anniversary

Today, 9 September 2026, marks a quarter of a century since the deadliest terrorist attacks in human history.

Nearly 3,000 people died in America when terrorists used commercial planes as weapons.

Four were hijacked, and two infamously hit the World Trade Centre in New York, causing the Twin Towers to collapse.

The attack stunned the world.

Guernseyman John Halker was working in New York City and witnessed the disaster firsthand.

He recalled being in the gym of his apartment complex just south of the Towers on the morning of 9/11.

"I was pedalling away on an exercise bike.

"Somebody on the exercise bike beside me said that she thought she could see smoke and flames coming out of the World Trade Centre.

"I looked, and it wasn't smoke; it was billions of pieces of paper.

"The first plane had come from the north, which is why we hadn't actually seen it bury itself in the North Tower.

"I got my camera and went out onto the roof terrace, and started taking photos, and then saw, well, heard this really, very strange noise.

"The second aircraft came and just buried itself straight into the World Trade Centre.

"I could tell by then that it wasn't an accident; something had gone wrong.

"It all looked terribly disastrous from there.

"My thoughts and feelings were for the people who were in there. You could already see that flames were licking up towards the top floors."

John decided to leave his apartment block. He joined crowds in the streets. Still wearing his gym clothes, he witnessed the South Tower collapse.

"I sort of escaped all that by running into the World Financial Centre, which is diagonally opposite.

"I got a bit dusty, with one or two very minor cuts, but I wouldn't say I was injured.

"A while later, we all just headed south out of there.

"I led some people who were very scared across to the west side of Manhattan Island, down towards the Staten Island Ferry into an office building where they didn't really know what was going on.

"They still had electricity, but they hadn't tuned into the news.

"I got stuck in that office building for a little while

"When some of the smoke cleared, I went back to my apartment - it was knee-deep in dust."

John says some acquaintances of his died on 9/11. He left New York a couple of months later.

He says the world should not forget, but we cannot live in fear.

"It changed the world,  but the terrorists win if we all live in terror. 

"So I just chose to not spend the rest of my life living in fear of terrorist attacks."

A commemoration will be held at Ground Zero, as it is every year.