(NEW YORK) — Saturday marks 20 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Hijackers crashed two commercial airliners into the World Trade Center, striking the north tower at 8:46 a.m. followed by the south tower at 9:03 a.m. At 9:37 a.m., a third hijacked airline crashed into the Pentagon.

Twenty-two minutes later, the World Trade Center’s south tower collapsed. A fourth hijacked plane crashed into a field in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m. after passengers fought with and overcame the hijackers.

At 10:28 a.m. the World trade Center’s North Tower collapsed.

In total, 2,977 people were killed, including many New York City first responders.

The anniversary will be marked by several events across the country, including the annual commemoration at the World Trade Center Memorial in downtown Manhattan.

Here are the latest updates from the day. All times are Eastern.

Here’s how the news was developing. All times Eastern.

Sep 11, 8:21 am
Crowds begin to gather at World Trade Center

Families of World Trade Center victims, survivors, first responders and dignitaries have begun gathering at the National September 11th Memorial & Museum for this year’s memorial services.

The event begins at 8:30 a.m. and is expected to conclude at approximately 1:00 p.m.

The ceremony will include moments of silence at the times the four planes crashed and the times both towers collapsed.

Family members will read the names throughout the morning of all of the people lost that day as well as the victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Sep 11, 8:01 am
Obama reflects on 20th anniversary

Former President Barack Obama released a statement Saturday morning reflecting on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

He urged all Americans to remember the courage and selflessness of those lost in the attacks.

“We reaffirm our commitment to keep a sacred trust with their families — including the children who lost parents, and who have demonstrated such extraordinary resilience. But this anniversary is also about reflecting on what we’ve learned in the 20 years since that awful morning,” Obama wrote.

“That list of lessons is long and growing. But one thing that became clear on 9/11 – and has been clear ever since – is that America has always been home to heroes who run towards danger in order to do what is right.”

In his statement the former president pointed to examples of heroic actions from the last two decades, such as the service members, first responders and medical personnel.

“They represent what is best in America, and what can and should bring us together,” Obama said. “9/11 reminded us how so many Americans give of themselves in extraordinary ways – not just in moments of great crisis, but every single day. Let’s never forget that, and let’s never take them for granted.”

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle

Sep 11, 8:20 am
President Biden to attend services at World Trade Center, Shanksville, Pentagon

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend three 9-11 memorial services throughout the day

They will begin at the National September 11th Memorial & Museum in lower Manhattan at 8:30 a.m. and fly out to Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The president and first lady will attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial at 12:30 p.m.

They will be joined by Vice President Kamala Harris and the second gentleman Doug Emhoff at the Pentagon at 4:30 p.m. where they will take part in the wreath-laying ceremony to honor the lives lost at the location.

Biden released a video speech on social media Friday evening marking the 20th anniversary.

“As we saw in the days that followed, unity is our greatest strength. It’s what makes us who we are — and we can’t forget that,” he tweeted.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — What’s black and white and roaming the greater Washington, D.C., area?

Zebras.

“As if 2021 can’t get even more crazier, a pack of zebras were spotted in a Maryland county,” the National Park Service of Chesapeake Bay tweeted out earlier this week.

The group of five zebras, referred to as a dazzle, have been on the loose in Maryland for over a week now. The zebras escaped from a farm near Upper Marlboro, Maryland, late last month, Chief Rodney Taylor with Prince George’s County Animal Services Division told Washington ABC affiliate WJLA.

The farm has had exotic animals on and off for 15 years, Taylor told WJLA. Animal Services has received multiple calls that the quadrupeds were spotted roaming and grazing on the majestic plains of rural Maryland. The farm is working to lure the zebras back with feeding stations, where they hope they will be able to corral the zebras without spooking them.

The zebras are not dangerous unless you approach them, according to Taylor.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-Washington, D.C., inserted herself into the bizarre story by releasing a statement Friday denying responsibility for letting the zebras loose. Her office later clarified it was a joke. Holmes Norton said in jest that she had a “solid alibi” proving she did not release the zebras.

She is known locally as an advocate for consent of being governed — as she continues fighting for D.C. statehood — and joked in the statement that she opposes unnecessary fences.

“Local news has reported that the zebras were let loose on Saturday or Sunday of last weekend, a period of time during which I was enjoying quiet time at home with family,” Norton said. “My alibi is solid, but given my career of fighting for statehood for the District, which includes years of explaining the importance of having consent of the governed, and given my recent opposition to fences, I can understand why the charge was made. I hope the owners find the zebras and that all involved live long, full lives.”

The country requests that anyone with information about the whereabouts of the zebras contact Prince George’s County Animal Control Services at 301-780-7200.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — He was 39 years old, but those who knew Carl Asaro remember him as “a big kid.” He was a man who loved music, his wife, six children and his job as a firefighter.

“He would still have like a lot of energy and come play with all of the neighborhood kids,” his daughter Rebecca said. “He was big on riding his bike, throwing the football around and playing his guitar. If he wasn’t with us, that’s all he did. He was a huge Grateful Dead fan. He was either humming the songs or playing on the guitar.”

Asaro worked at Engine 54, only four miles from the World Trade Center.

On Sept. 11, 2001, he was one of the first responders who answered the call to help. Of the 15 people who left from Engine 54, Ladder 4 that day, none returned home.

Now, 20 years later, 65 children of New York firefighters who died have picked up their own helmets, inspired by their loved ones’ ultimate sacrifice.

“I think during this time it’s kind of expected to feel those old feelings and feel them resurge, but the days in between, when you don’t expect it — when a song comes on the radio and you see something that reminds you of him, those are the days that hit you a little bit harder,” Asaro’s son Carl Jr. said.

Four of the six Asaro children went on to continue his legacy as firefighters — Carl Jr., Matt, Rebecca and Mark, who were 13, 12, 9, and 7 on 9/11.

Rebecca remembers it was her mom’s turn to carpool that morning.

“I saw my dad that morning. That night before I asked him for tic tacs. I remember I was begging him, so before he went to work he dropped ‘em off and he kissed us goodbye,” she said.

“In school they kept calling us one by one. My mom when she picked me up… she was just so frantic… I remember my mom was back and forth on the phone,” she said. “I was 9 and didn’t really understand much of what was going on… I thought my dad pulled up one day and it was the chief to tell my mom what was going on. My mom didn’t understand so then it finally hit her days later that he wasn’t coming home.”

Matt took the bus home that day, knowing his dad was at ground zero.

“I was proud but I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t know the severity of it,” he said. “We didn’t have no cell phones back then, and I remember just calling him and beeping and no answer, no answer. That’s how life got to be without him. Coming down here and just waiting — people getting found everyday- alive, dead. They didn’t find nothing, not a bone, not a hair, not a memento. It just kind of sucked.”

Asaro’s body was never found, so his family opted to bury a guitar instead, filled with notes from loved ones — a symbol of his love of music.

Rebecca was eventually inspired to follow her dad’s footsteps as a firefighter by seeing his impact.

“It’s like the department’s small and my dad had such a big heart,” she said. “Through the years after 9/11 we talked to people.. He impacted so many.”

For Matt, he said the bond formed at the firehouse “is like no other.”

“We grew up here,” Carl Jr. said. “I think for us to give back and live a life of service is one way to really feel connected with my dad and for us to feel whole in a way.”

The siblings agreed that being a part of the FDNY helped them cope with the incredible loss.

“They’re a big part of our lives — has been and always will be,” Matt said, joking that his dad might have pointed out he wanted them to become doctors instead.

For five years, his namesake Carl Jr. didn’t visit ground zero. Now, he finds it peaceful, saying that because it was the last place his father was, he considers it his father’s final resting place.

On the eve of the anniversary of one of the darkest days in American history, Carl Jr. reflects on a discussion he had with his sister.

“We were talking about how you’re only truly dead when your name is mentioned for the last time, and I thought that was powerful,” he said. “If that’s the case my father and these men that were killed that day and sacrificed their life, they’re going to live forever through their legacy and their actions.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BOWLING GREEN, Ky.) — With millions of Americans still unvaccinated, hospitals across the country are once again facing the overwhelming pressure of caring for thousands of COVID-19 patients — with more than 100,000 people in beds as of Friday.

While hospitalization rates in states like Florida and Mississippi, hit hard early in the delta surge, are beginning to decline, other southern states, including Kentucky, are showing no signs of infection and hospitalization rates slowing down.

“We walk into the hospital and it feels like the world is on fire,” Dr. Karan Singh, a pulmonologist at Med Center Health in Bowling Green, Kentucky, told ABC News.

Statewide, there are more than 2,600 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 — the highest on record, and currently, just 7% of intensive care beds remain available. At the state’s previous peak last December, there were 1,000 fewer patients hospitalized.

Last week, Kentucky reported more than 30,000 new cases, according to Gov. Andy Beshear, a weekly record since the onset of the pandemic.

“Our hospital situation has never been more dire in my lifetime than it is right now,” Beshear said. “We cannot handle more sick individuals.”

More than 400 members of the Kentucky National Guard, as well as strike teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s emergency medical services, have now been deployed to help struggling hospitals across the state.

“I would honestly say it’s at least three times worse than what it was the first time,” nurse Kerri Eklund, from Baptist Health Hardin, in Elizabethtown, told ABC News. “We’re seeing a lot of people getting really sick. There are patients that will come in and they’ll be doing okay for a few days and then, in the blink of an eye, they go downhill.”

The current wave of infections caught many health care workers by surprise, added Heather Brock, another nurse at Baptist Health Hardin. Earlier this year, with vaccinations available, there was a sense that things would return to normal. However, nearly nine months into the country’s vaccination rollout, and less than 50% of Kentucky’s total population has been fully vaccinated.

“I wasn’t expecting this much of a surge again. In my opinion, it’s worse than the previous ones,” Brock said.

Front-line health workers said that the situation escalated quickly, after a short period of relief earlier this summer, and nearly all patients have been unvaccinated.

Across Kentucky, state data shows that 91.6% of COVID-19 related hospitalizations between March 1, and Aug. 31, have been among partially or unvaccinated residents.

“The patients who are vaccinated are doing a lot better,” said Eklund. In fact, “patients who are vaccinated, most of the time don’t even need oxygen, and they’re just here because they have a few of the other complications and they’re monitored. Most of the patients who end up going downhill, unfortunately, have not been vaccinated.”

Many patients the teams are treating remain in the intensive care unit for weeks at a time, said Baptist Health Hardin nurse Clara Robertson, while “suffering and struggling for breath, that entire time. And then a lot of times, unfortunately, losing that battle, and dying.”

The state’s most recent wave has been a difficult reality to face, added Eklund, as well as emotionally crushing for the medical staff to watch so many patients suffer.

The patients, “have been doing all they can and trying their hardest, and then they just get to the point that their body can’t handle it anymore. And I think their minds start to break, because they’ve been giving it all and they’re still not getting any better.”

Medical professionals, whether doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants or respiratory therapists — all are stretched so thin that many are experiencing exhaustion, compassion fatigue and burnout.

“We’re being tasked with daunting assignments, and everyone is emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted,” noted Brian Deweese, a respiratory therapist at Med Center Health. The fatigue is such, he said, that “we are seeing highly experienced and exceptional health care workers walk away from their profession altogether, because of the stress and anxiety they’re having to deal with.”

Outside the walls of the hospital, Singh said many community members do not fully realize the severity of the COVID-19 crisis across the state.

“When we leave, and we go to the grocery store, or we talk to people not in medicine, it’s like the world is just unaware of what is happening,” Singh said.

And front-line workers say they worry this surge will only further deteriorate, as they prepare for fall and winter.

“I’m really worried that it’s just going to keep getting worse, and I hope that we’re able to find a way to protect everyone, and have what we need, because we all know that winter is the worst time for health issues all together,” said Eklund. “I’m really hoping that we’re not going to have to see a lot of lives lost.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.