Newly released aerial photos of the Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center terror attack

NEW YORK — Newly released aerial photos of the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center terror attack show the towers coming down from a dramatic new angle.

A trove of aerial photographs of the collapsing World Trade Center was widely released this week,
The images were taken from a police helicopter - the only photographers allowed in the airspace near the skyscrapers on Sept. 11, 2001. They were obtained by ABC after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the National Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST), the NIST collected the images as part of its investigation into the terrorist attack.

ABC said National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) gave the network 2,779 pictures on nine CDs. The network posted 12 pictures on its ABC's Web site Monday and an additional 12 on Wednesday, including another close-up of the burning north tower and photos of rescue boats and commuter ferries docking in the Hudson River to pick up survivors.