Family of college graduate who died in 9/11 attacks share gut-wrenching detail about moment plane hit Twin Towers

Brooke Jackman’s family held on to the hope that she was still alive. Then they learned the truth.

The 23-year-old Columbia University graduate graduate had just started working at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of the north tower on 1st July, 2001. She also decided to return to university to get a master’s degree in social work.

However, on 11 September, 2001, almost 3,000 people in New York City lost their lives when four commercial planes carrying passengers were hijacked by al-Qaeda.

Under terrorist control, two of those jets crashed into the two World Trade Centre Twin Towers in lower Manhattan.

Within the hour, both the North and South Towers had collapsed to the ground, as the world watched on in horror.

Brooke’s family initially believed she was safe. Some of her loved ones travelled to Midtown and did everything they could to get close to the site. They stopped at each hospital along the way with the believe that she survived.

Brooke Jackman was a Columbia University graduate (Voicescentre.org)

Speaking to PEOPLE magazine in 2025, Brooke’s older sister Erin said: “We thought she just needed us. We thought she got out.

“We didn’t know then that there was no way down, or a way up.”

Brooke recalled waiting at St. Vincent hospital in New York, alongside doctors and nurses waiting for ambulances carrying survivors. But she says the ambulances ‘never came’.

"It's a difficult time of year," she said. "But you go on, one foot in front of the other, because what other choice is there?"

Brooke’s family started a foundation in her honour a few months after her death. It is dedicated to helping children in underserved communities by donating books and school supplies.

'We lost her, but we couldn't let her dreams die," Erin said.

She paid tribute to her sister and highlighted the incredible work that has been achieved through the foundation dedicated to her. "Not one single day has passed when she hasn't been with me in my heart, in my head. Her voice, her laugh, I cherish every single minute of our 23 years together, every single day," she shared.

New York Firefighters amid the rubble of the World Trade Centre following the 9/11 attacks (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

"I hope in some way," she says, "my sister knows what we do in her name and is happy and proud."

This Friday marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks which took the lives of 2,977 victims. There are major commemorations taking place across the US. This will include the 9/11 Memorial ceremony at Ground Zero where family members of victims will read aloud the names of their loved ones. The ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m. local time, with the first moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.

This includes 2,753 people in New York City at the World Trade Center and surrounding area, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 aboard United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania

Thousands more were injured, and many first responders and survivors later passed away from illnesses linked to exposure to toxic dust and debris.