Five disasters shook Switzerland during 2001’s 74-day autumn
Sunday 6th September 2026 on 13:00 in
Switzerland
Five national and global tragedies struck Switzerland within 74 days in autumn 2001, SRF reports, including the September 11 attacks, a shooting at the Zug cantonal parliament, Swissair’s grounding, the Gotthard Tunnel fire and a Crossair crash near Bassersdorf.
The sequence became known as the “black autumn” or “disaster autumn”. After the Crossair crash on November 24, then Federal President Moritz Leuenberger asked: “Will this never end?” His words reflected the grief felt by many people in Switzerland.
The September 11 attacks
Nineteen Islamist terrorists hijacked four large passenger aircraft in the United States. They flew two planes into New York’s World Trade Center towers and another into the Pentagon in Washington. The fourth aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania.
About 3,000 people from 92 countries were killed, including two Swiss citizens, and thousands more were injured.
At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 10 struck the World Trade Center’s North Tower between the 93rd and 99th floors at a speed of 750 kilometres per hour. Around 17,000 people were in the complex as the working day began.
Seventeen minutes later, a second aircraft hit the South Tower in front of a global television audience. The crash made clear that the first impact was a deliberate attack. Civilian flights in the United States were halted and fighter jets were launched to protect New York.
At 9:37 a.m., another plane crashed into the Pentagon. The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., followed by the North Tower at 10:28 a.m. The collapses killed everyone still alive in the buildings and sent a huge, partly toxic cloud of dust and debris across Lower Manhattan.
People in or above the impact zones had little chance of escape. Some jumped from the towers, which were more than 400 metres high. Rescue workers and others were exposed to toxic fumes and dust, with later illnesses linked to these substances.
The Crossair crash near Bassersdorf marked the end of the series of disasters, during which Leuenberger became a national voice of mourning and remembrance.