HispanicBusiness

New aerial photos of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were released today, marking the first time the public has viewed the carnage from that vantage.

Until now, all depictions of the historic tragedy in New York City that changed global politics and sparked two wars had been taken from the ground or nearby buildings, according to this AP video.

Perhaps more so than any other, the photos capture the enormity of the destruction, showing how the smoke and debris from the falling skyscrapers covered a huge swath of Manhattan in a billowing blanket.

The photos were first obtained by ABC, which filed a freedom of information request with the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

One of the most disturbing images depicts floor upon floor of orange flame glowing ominously towards the top of a soon-to-topple World Trade Center building that is as charred as a piece of firewood.

(Click here for a BBC slide show.)