'The Falling Man': Untold story behind photo from 911 attack that shook the world

On September 11, 2001, at 9:41 a.m., Associated Press photographer Richard Drew captured a photograph that would deeply shock people all around the world.

 Known today as "The Falling Man," the famous picture shows a person falling headfirst from the North Tower of the World Trade Centre during the tragic terrorist attacks in New York City.

The photograph captures a remarkably quiet and frozen moment right in the middle of a massive national disaster. 

In the image seen by TNX Africa, the man falls almost perfectly straight down toward the pavement below. His body neatly splits the long, vertical lines of the twin towers standing side by side in the background. 

Unlike the chaotic and violent scenes recorded during the rest of that morning, this photo shows a strange sense of order and stillness.This quiet contrast made the image deeply disturbing to anyone who looked at it.

The picture appeared in dozens of major newspapers across the United States the morning after the attacks occurred. However, intense public backlash began almost immediately.

Angry readers called the newspaper offices, stating that the photograph was far too graphic, insensitive, and cruel to display publicly. Many people strongly believed that printing the picture invaded the victim's privacy and caused extra emotional pain to a grieving nation.

 Facing strong anger from the public, media outlets quickly pulled the photograph from print and television view. The image received its famous name two years later, in 2003. Writer Tom Junod published a detailed article titled "The Falling Man" in Esquire magazine.

The popular story brought the hidden picture back into the public eye and sparked new discussions about its true meaning and historical importance. For many years, journalists, investigators, and families tried hard to discover who the man in the photo really was.

The most likely match was determined as Jonathan Briley, a 43-year-old sound engineer who worked at the Windows on the World restaurant on the top floors of the North Tower. His brother identified him based on his physical build, his skin tone, and a bright orange shirt that Briley often wore under his executive work clothes.

Despite these clear clues, official authorities never formally confirmed the man's identity. Today, "The Falling Man" remains a powerful, unnamed symbol representing all the victims who were forced to make unimaginable choices high above the ground.

On that terrible day, the extremist group al-Qaeda launched four coordinated terrorist attacks against the United States, killing 2,977 victims and changing global history.

The hijackers crashed two planes including; American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center, while a third plane struck the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers bravely fought back.

Within two hours, both World Trade Center towers collapsed, covering Lower Manhattan in toxic dust, forcing an immediate ground stop for civil aviation across North America, and launching massive rescue operations.

In the long term, these attacks reshaped world security, leading to the Global War on Terror with military invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA for strict global airport security, and the establishment of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at Ground Zero to honor those who died.