{"id":767150,"date":"2026-09-11T10:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/767150\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T10:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:26:13","slug":"9-11-anniversary-victims-remembered-25-years-on-from-attacks-follow-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/767150\/","title":{"rendered":"9\/11 anniversary: Victims remembered 25 years on from attacks – follow live"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘The smell, I remember still – the burning’: Welsh first minister recalls working in New York after 9\/11published at 09:09 BST<\/p>\n

09:09 BST<\/p>\n

Brendon Williams
BBC News<\/p>\n

\"Wales'Image source, Getty Images<\/p>\n

Wales’ First
\nMinister Rhun ap Iorwerth covered the aftermath of 9\/11 while working as a BBC
\njournalist.<\/p>\n

He was on
\nholiday with his wife Llinos and their daughter, and was travelling from
\nVermont to meet his in-laws, who had flown from Wales to join them in New
\nYork. <\/p>\n

After being
\nreassured they were safe, he headed to New York City, bought a
\nmobile phone, and reported on the terror attacks, “knowing that the world
\nwould likely never be the same again”.<\/p>\n

Although he
\nhad been to New York previously, he says: “I remember arriving and it
\nbeing a distinctly different city.<\/p>\n

“The
\nsmell, I remember still – the burning. <\/p>\n

“This
\nbold city, quieter. I remember the sense of shock, which was palpable on the
\nstreets of New York,” he tells BBC-produced Newyddion S4C, external<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first
\nminister says much of the history of the last 25 years “stemmed from that
\nevent”.<\/p>\n

“The
\nbeginning of the ‘war on terror’, the tensions, Islamophobia, the way that
\ngeopolitics have been shaped.”<\/p>\n

He adds:
\n“We’ve also learnt that cool heads are needed, even in those most horrific
\nof circumstances.”<\/p>\n

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