NEW YORK: Twenty-two years after the 9/11 militant attacks on the United States, the remains of two people who died in the World Trade Center collapse have been identified through DNA analysis, authorities stated prior to the disaster anniversary.
The identities of the man and woman have been withheld at the request of their families.
The number of victims whose remains have been identified has risen to 1,649, out of a total of 2,753 who died when an al-Qaeda commando crashed two hijacked civilian planes into New York City’s Twin Towers, the city’s mayor and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). he said.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s ongoing efforts to reconnect all World Trade Centre victims with their loved ones reflect the city’s steadfast commitment to doing so, he continued. “We hope these new identifications bring some measure of comfort to the families of these victims,” he said. According to a statement issued late on Friday, Mayor Eric Adams.
Progress is painfully slow though, with 1,104 victims still unaccounted for. In 2021, the first two identifications were made.
As the mall’s south tower and then its north collapsed in a deafening crash, raining down a flood of fire, choking gray dust and twisted steel on the Manhattan streets below, the violence was so extreme that no identifiable traces were found. hundreds of missing.
The two latest identifications were made possible by the use of “next-generation sequencing technology – more sensitive and faster than conventional DNA techniques,” the statement said. The remains of a man and a woman were found years ago.
The 2001 attacks are always commemorated in New York on 9/11, as they are on Monday.
Nineteen militants, most of them Saudis, hijacked four planes. In addition to the two that destroyed the World Trade Center, a third plane crashed into the Pentagon near Washington, causing heavy damage, and a fourth crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew struggled with the attackers.
Altogether, today’s terrorist attacks claimed 2,977 lives.
