A soon-to-be-released U.S. government report says New York's World Trade Center twin towers withstood the initial impact of two hijacked jetliners but that intense fires contributed to the towers' collapse. 

News reports Friday said the study finds that the towers' design and construction features prevented their immediate collapse after the planes slammed into them on September 11. 

The report says the fires sparked by jet fuel sent temperatures climbing near the 1,100 degree Celsius mark and produced heat equivalent to that generated by a nuclear power plant. The heat melted steel beams that kept the twin towers upright. 

The report is also quoted as saying the towers' fireproofing and sprinkler systems, as well as their water supply for hoses, all became disabled in the collision and fires. It is not clear, however, whether the fires alone could have caused the huge towers to crumble and fall. 

The story comes more than three months after the U.S. government released a videotape it said points to Osama Bin Laden's involvement in the terrorist strikes in New York and Washington. In the video, the man identified as Bin Laden expresses joy on learning about the attacks, saying he expected the burning jet fuel to play a major part in damaging the buildings. 

The official report, which is scheduled to be released by early May, was commissioned by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Advance copies were obtained by several U.S. media organizations. 

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