LONDON - As a reporter, Stephen Evans was lucky to be at the center of the largest news story so far of the 21st Century. Yet as a human being, he was deeply saddened to see the immeasurable loss of life that was brought on by the terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001, in New York City.

"Clearly, every journalist wants to cover a big story, but I don't think I relished the event," Evans, 57, said nearly 10 years after the attacks. "I also felt like a New Yorker and I felt it was a personal and outrageous attack on me."

Nearly 3,000 victims, including residents of more than 70 countries, died on one of the darkest days in US history. Most of them were killed after the twin towers of the World Trade Center were hit by two hijacked passenger planes and collapsed.