Terror, twice over: NatGeo photographer, witness to both 9/11 and Paris strikes, describes the attacks

Not many are able to witness history as it happens twice, and tell the tale. National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry would know a thing or two about that. He was an eyewitness to two of the biggest terrorism datelines in world history- the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States of America and the 13/11 attacks in Paris which took place last week. Narrating the scenes of chaos and fear in the seconds after the explosions were heard at the stadium in Paris, McCurry said in an interview to CBS news said, “I was getting pushed to the ground…I thought I was going to die.” [caption id=“attachment_2510422” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Steve McCurry. Image courtesy: Youtube screengrab[/caption] McCurry was reported to have said that when he heard the explosions, he initially thought it was part of the show. He said that the crowd of about 80,000 persons heard the blasts, but had no idea that the sound had come from a suicide bomber blowing himself up. While most people ran towards the open ground area, McCurry said he decided to exit the stadium. But he said he kept getting pushed back because people ‘were charging around like wild animals.’ “It reminded me of 9/11. I was at Ground Zero on that day,” he said. In a post on his blog, McCurry has described the events which took place almost a decade and a half ago, on 11 September 2001. “Shortly after nine o’clock, when I heard of the attack, I went up on the roof of my apartment building and watched both towers billowing smoke. I photographed the second tower collapsing at 10.28 a.m. After shooting from the top of my building, I walked down to Ground Zero at noon, and stayed until late that night when all my film was gone, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave,” he wrote. He recalled in his blog that as he walked away from the site, life seemed to be coming back near normal. “I wanted to go up and shake people and say, ‘Don’t you realize that this is probably the most important day in your life?’” McCurry wrote the article on his blog in September 2010. Little did he know that, more than five years later, he would find himself at another Ground Zero. You can watch the interview of McCurry, in which he speaks about the Paris attacks, here.