Two more victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks are identified by cutting edge DNA – the first in two years
Two more victims of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center are identified using advanced DNA – the first in two years
- Officials in New York City have identified the remains of two more 9/11 victims
- Both a man and a woman have been identified, but their names are being withheld
- The two positive identifications are the first since September 2021
Officials in New York City have identified the remains of two more victims who died during the September 11 attacks, 22 years after the tragedy.
A man and a woman have both been identified, but their names are being withheld at the request of their families.
This is the latest positive identification in the decades-long effort to return victims to their families, and the first in the past two years.
The last positive identifications were in September 2021 and before that the last identification took place in 2019.
New York City’s medical examiner has now succeeded in linking the remains of 1,649 World Trade Center victims, using advanced DNA sequencing techniques to test body fragments found in the rubble.
Officials in New York City have identified the remains of two more victims who died during the September 11 attacks, 22 years after the tragedy
Authorities confirmed the identifications just days before the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 hijacked plane attack that killed 2,753 people in Lower Manhattan.
They are the 1,648th and 1,649th people identified by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) using advanced DNA testing.
Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, said he hopes the new identifications can provide “some measure of comfort” to the victims’ families.
He said: “As we prepare to commemorate the anniversary of September 11, our thoughts go out to those we lost on that terrible morning and their families who continue to live every day with the pain of missing loved ones.
“We hope these new identifications can provide some comfort to the families of these victims, and the ongoing efforts of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner demonstrate the city’s continued commitment to reunite all World Trade Center victims with their loved ones.” dear ones.’
The techniques used by the city’s DNA laboratory include recently adopted next-generation sequencing technology.
It is more sensitive and faster than conventional DNA techniques and is also used by the US military to identify the remains of missing US soldiers.
It is also being used to test the remains of more than 100 people who died in last month’s Maui wildfires.
The ‘Tribute in Light’ ceremony is being tested today in New York ahead of the anniversary
Officials said the man’s identification was confirmed by DNA testing of remains recovered in 2001.
The woman’s identification was confirmed through testing of remains recovered in 2001, 2006 and 2013.
In addition to the two new identifications this year, OCME has identified 60 human remains linked to previously identified individuals.
However, despite advances in DNA technology, 40% of those killed in the attack, some 1,104 victims, remain unidentified – they are currently stored at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Graham said, “More than two decades after the disaster, these two new identifications continue to fulfill a solemn commitment made by OCME to return the remains of World Trade Center victims to their loved ones.
“Faced with the largest and most complex forensic investigation in our nation’s history, we stand undeterred in our mission to use the latest advances in science to deliver on this promise.”