Remembering the World Trade Center Bombing, 30 Years Later

An explosion occurred in the World Trade Center’s public parking lot thirty years ago on a cold February day. In an attempt to overthrow the Twin Towers, a group of Islamic extremist terrorists had parked there a Ford Econoline van rented from them. It was packed with 1,200 pounds explosives. They wanted to kill Americans and press the United States to end its support for Israel.

The explosives were detonated at 12:18 p.m., February 26, 1993 via a fuse. This gave terrorist bombers enough time to flee. Although terrorists failed to bring down the Twin Towers on that day, an explosion beneath the World Trade Center left a crater six stories deep, sending smoke rising upwards into the Twin Towers. It also injured more than 1,000 people as thousands struggled through smoke-filled staircases to escape the World Trade Center.

30 years ago #FDNY While members fought fire below the 2 World Trade Center in the parking garage’s unstable collapse, others climbed up the tower to rescue and evacuate civilians. Six people were killed and over 1000 injured in the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing. pic.twitter.com/2YdDI8DgP5

— FDNY (@FDNY) February 26, 2023

Despite the fact that power was lost due to the bombing, World Trade Center personnel worked closely with Con Edison and the Port Authority to restore power to Twin Towers the night of the attack.

“To have these towers sit dark against the skyline would have been just the wrong message,” Charles Maikish was the director of Port Authority’s World Trade Department after the bombing. “The one thing we did not want was for those two towers to stand dark on the skyline over New York on the twenty-sixth of February, nineteen ninety-three, and they didn’t.”

Today, reflecting pools are placed at the Twin Towers foundations of World Trade Center. They serve as memorials to those who were killed in the 1993 terrorist attack and the bombing of World Trade Center. The names of innocent victims of 1993 can be found on one panel at the National 9/11 Memorial. It is located at the location where the north tower used to stand.

John DiGiovanniHe was 45 and lived in Valley Stream, Long Island, with his mother. He was a Kerr Chemicals East Coast sales manager. He was on his way home from a call with Kerr Chemicals when he pulled into the World Trade Center garage parking lot. 

Robert KirkpatrickHe was 61 years old and lived in Suffern with Evelyn. He was senior structural maintenance supervisor at the Port Authority. He was having lunch in the basement at the World Trade Center.

Stephen A. Knapp47-year-old he lived on Staten Island, with his wife and two kids. He was the chief maintenance supervisor for the Port Authority, and worked at the World Trade Center since its opening. He was having lunch in the basement at the World Trade Center. 

William MackoCarol and he lived in Bayonne (New Jersey) for 57 years. They were a Port Authority assistant chief mechanic supervisor for the World Trade Center. The World Trade Center’s basement was where the ex-Marine served his lunch break. 

Wilfredo MercadoHe was 37 years old and lived in East New York with Olga, his wife and two children. He was receiving food delivery from the World Trade Center basement. 

Monica Rodriguez SmithShe was 35 and lived in Seaford, Long Island, with Edward. She was seven months pregnant with her son, who would be named after her father. Smith worked in the Port Authority operations department as an administrator. On the day she was due to leave for maternity, she was at the World Trade Center basement. 

Thirty-years after the terrorists took their lives, family members and New Yorkers gathered at the site to host a private memorial ceremony hosted by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. The Mass will then be celebrated at St. Peter’s Church on Barclay Street. 

Ramzi Yousef was accused of being the bombing ringleader during a 1998 trial. “Yes, I am a terrorist and I am proud of it. And I support terrorism so long as it was against the United States government and against Israel.” The judge sentenced him to life in prison plus 240 years — a number reached by adding together the estimated years of life stolen from those killed by the World Trade Center bombing. Yousef and five other co-conspirators are currently serving their sentences in U.S. jails. 

Although thirty years have passed since that bombing, the U.S. government still considers the World Trade Center attack to be an open case. Abdul Yasin is an alleged seventh conspirator and still remains at large after he fled the U.S. in March 1993.

Never Forget.