作者：康纳·奈顿
2026年9月6日 / 美国东部时间上午10:19 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
加拿大小镇甘德地处偏远，位于纽芬兰岛，常住人口约1.2万。2001年9月11日时，这里的居民人数更少，而甘德地处美国东北端的绝佳地理位置，使其成为迫降航班的理想停靠点。
“清晨离开欧洲后，飞至大西洋中途时，最近的机场就是甘德，”2001年9·11事件时任甘德市长的克劳德·埃利奥特说道。当日结束时，共有38架飞机降落在甘德机场，而当地完全没有应对此类情况的应急预案。“完全没有，”埃利奥特说，“每个市镇都有应急计划，但计划里没有任何条款告诉你，如何安置7000名临时到访4到5天的人。”
2001年9月11日上午美国空域关闭后，共有38架国际航班迫降在甘德国际机场。
在确认飞机短期内无法起飞后，甘德必须紧急应对大批来自世界各地的临时访客。埃利奥特宣布进入紧急状态，呼吁居民提供物资。教堂和学校被改为收容所，就连当地的冰球场也派上了用场。“我们运来了数卡车食物，都放在社区中心的冰面上，把那里当成冰箱来冷藏食物，”埃利奥特说。
甘德的学校、教堂和私人住宅为7000名滞留乘客和机组人员提供了庇护所。
当地居民称这些新到来的人为“飞机来客”。求助请求如潮水般涌来。埃利奥特表示：“一个社区最大的财富就是居民，而我们的居民都站了出来。每个人都伸出了援手。”
贝娅拉·库珀是众多志愿者之一，她是甘德的本地居民。她告诉记者：“我当时就说，‘感谢上帝他们来这里，因为我知道他们会得到妥善照顾。’”
库珀在甘德的皇家加拿大军团做志愿者，这里安置了来自爱尔兰航空一班航班的67名乘客。她为大家送去三明治，接送滞留乘客到镇上各处的付费电话，甚至邀请部分乘客到自己家中住宿和洗澡。
库珀表示，帮助他人让自己受益匪浅：“我的天，知道自己在帮别人，这种感觉真的太好了（拍了拍胸口）。这本来就是我一贯的行事准则。”
库珀正是音乐剧《来自远方》角色的原型人物之一，该剧于2017年在百老汇首演。该剧讲述了甘德民众团结互助的故事，埃利奥特最初还不认为这样的故事能改编成音乐剧。
“我得坦白，我以前从没看过音乐剧，”他说，“但我当时一直在想，怎么能用三明治、汤、毯子、箱子和枕头来编一出音乐剧？”
但这个看似不起眼的故事却引发了巨大共鸣。《来自远方》斩获了托尼奖，在全球巡演，还造就了至少一位新的音乐剧爱好者：埃利奥特市长。他表示自己已经看过该剧139次：“我在六个国家看过这部剧：加拿大、美国、澳大利亚、伦敦、西班牙马德里，还有新西兰。”
而最近，这部剧回到了故乡甘德。今年夏天，当地艺术中心上演了专业版的《来自远方》。出生在几小时车程外圣约翰斯的演员彼得·哈利在甘德版演出中饰演克劳德市长。“这是唯一一支由纽芬兰本地人饰演纽芬兰角色的剧组，”他说，“所以该剧的真实感十足，在本地也能真切感受到。”
《来自远方》甘德版演出场景，地点在纽芬兰甘德的约瑟夫·R·斯莫尔伍德艺术文化中心。
该剧的剧名《来自远方》源自对到访纽芬兰的人的称呼。“你只是来看看我们，体验这个省，而你来自远方，”哈利说，“你就是‘从远方来的人’，所以‘CFA’是我从小就知道的一句俚语。”
如今，得益于这部剧的全球知名度，甘德迎来了越来越多的“远方来客”。当地航空博物馆设有专门展区，展示9·11事件后的那段日子，其中还包括滞留乘客写下的感谢信。世贸双子塔的金属残骸也被送到了甘德。皇家加拿大军团定期为游客举办“ screech-in”仪式——这一传统也在剧中有所体现，游客只需喝下一口烈性朗姆酒并亲吻一条鳕鱼，就能成为荣誉纽芬兰人。
贝娅拉·库珀通常都会到场帮忙。她仍在适应自己的名人身份。“大家都只想说，‘我要抱抱贝娅拉，我要抱抱贝娅拉’，眼泪顺着脸颊往下流，”库珀笑着说，“我当时就想，‘淡定一点，我只是个普通人啊！’”
但在危机时刻挺身而出的普通人，正是甘德的故事能够引发共鸣的原因。《来自远方》自称是一部“9·12音乐剧”，聚焦事件次日发生的善举。
“你要像希望别人对你说话那样和别人交流，像希望别人如何对待你那样对待他人，”库珀说，“如果你看到有人需要帮助，只要你有能力，就一定要伸出援手。”
https://youtu.be/Af77C4zUkjs
Remembering 9/11: When Gander provided safe haven in a time of crisis
By Conor Knighton
September 6, 2026 / 10:19 AM EDT / CBS News
The small Canadian town of Gander isn’t near much. Located on the island of Newfoundland, Gander is home to around 12,000 residents. Even fewer people lived here on September 11, 2001, when Gander’s far northeast positioning made it an ideal landing spot for grounded flights.
“Once you leave Europe in the morning, once you get halfways across, the nearest airport is Gander,” said Claude Elliott, who was mayor of Gander on 9/11. By the end of that day, 38 planes had landed at Gander’s airport, something for which there was no contingency plan. “None,” Elliott said. “We have an emergency plan, every municipality has it. But there’s nothing in that plan to tell you what to do with 7,000 people if they decide to drop in for four or five days.”
Thirty-eight international flights were grounded at Gander International Airport on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when U.S. airspace was shut down. Rogers TV
Once it was clear that the planes wouldn’t be taking off anytime soon, Gander had to scramble to figure out what to do with its influx of temporary visitors from all around the world. Elliott declared a state of emergency. Calls went out for supplies. Churches and schools became shelters. Even the local hockey rink was put to use. “We got truckloads of food and we put it all in the community center on the ice surface, and we used it as a refrigerator to keep the food cool,” Elliott said.
Shelter was given to 7,000 stranded passengers and crew members in schools, churches, and private homes in Gander.
Locals referred to the new arrivals as the “plane people.” Offers to help poured in. Elliott said, “The greatest asset that your community has is its people. And we had our people. Everybody came out.”
One of those volunteers was Gander resident Beulah Cooper. She told us, “I said, ‘Thank God they’re coming here, ’cause I know they will be looked after.”
Cooper volunteers at the Royal Canadian Legion in Gander, which housed 67 people from an Aer Lingus flight. She brought sandwiches, shuttled stranded passengers to pay phones around town, and even invited some to sleep and shower at her home.
Cooper said it was helpful to her to be helpful: “Oh, my gosh, it does so good in here [tapping her chest] to know that you’re doing something to help somebody. And that’s what I’m all about anyway.”
Cooper is one of the people who provided the inspiration for characters in the musical “Come From Away,” which premiered on Broadway in 2017. It tells the story of how Gander rallied together to help – which former Mayor Elliott didn’t initially think was going to make for much for a story.
“I had to confess I had never seen a musical,” he said. “But in my mind I’m trying to visualize, how are you gonna make a musical out of sandwiches, soup, blankets, boxes, pillows?”
But the seemingly small story resonated in a big way. “Come From Away” won a Tony Award, toured around the world, and has created at least one new musical theater buff: Mayor Elliott, who says he has seen the show 139 times: “I’ve seen it in six countries: Canada, United States, Australia, London, Madrid, Spain, and New Zealand.”
And, most recently, right here in Gander. “Come From Away” has come home, with a professional production staged during the summer months at the local arts center. Actor Peter Halley, born just a few hours away, in St. John’s, plays Mayor Claude in the Gander production. “It’s the only cast where Newfoundland characters are played by Newfoundlanders,” he said. “So, that authenticity of the show is really there, and felt here.”
Scenes from a production of “Come From Away,” performed at the Joseph R. Smallwood Arts and Culture Centre in Gander, Newfoundland. CBS News
The play’s title, “Come From Away,” is a reference to people who visit Newfoundland. “You’re just coming to see us and to experience the province, and you are from away,” said Halley. “And you’ve come from away. So, ‘CFA’ is just an expression that I think I’ve known forever.”
And now, thanks to the show’s global popularity, Gander sees a lot more CFAs. The aviation museum has an exhibit that highlights those days after 9/11, featuring thank-you notes written by grateful passengers. Metal beams from the Twin Towers were sent to Gander. The Legion regularly hosts “screech-ins” for tourists, a tradition portrayed in the musical, in which visitors can become honorary Newfoundlanders by taking a shot of strong rum and kissing a cod fish.
Beulah Cooper is usually on hand to help out. She’s still getting used to her celebrity status. “All they want, ‘I gotta hug Beulah. I gotta hug Beulah,’ and the tears running down their face,” Cooper laughed. “And I thought, ‘Take it easy. It’s only me!’”
But ordinary people stepping up in times of crisis is exactly why the story of what happened in Gander resonates. “Come From Away” considers itself a “9/12 musical.” It focuses on the acts of kindness that happened the next day.
“You talk to people like you like to be spoken to, and you treat people like you like to be treated,” Cooper said. “And if you see somebody that needs help, if you can help them, you better do that.”
https://youtu.be/Af77C4zUkjs
