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

The family of a college graduate who had got a job in the World Trade Center's North Tower in New York City held on to the hope that she was still alive on 9/11. Then they learned the harrowing truth.

23-year-old Brooke Jackman, a recent Columbia University graduate, had just started working at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of the North Tower on 1 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 terrorists.

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.

2,977 people died on 11 September, 2001, in what is one of the world's most deadly terrorist attacks (Robert Giroux/Getty Images)

'We thought she got out'

Brooke’s family initially believed she was safe when they heard the news that American Airlines Flight 11 had crashed into the North Tower, and some of her loved ones travelled to Midtown, doing everything they could to get close to the site.

They also stopped at each hospital along the way with the belief that she had survived.

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

She then said of the fact that the plane had struck the tower's 93rd - 99th floors: “We didn’t know then that there was no way down, or a way up.”

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

'We couldn't let her dreams die'

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.

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

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)

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 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.