More than two decades after the devastating September 11 attacks on the United States that killed almost 3,000 people, DNA analysis has identified the 22-year-old remains of two persons who died in the World Trade Center collapse. According to AFP, the two victims’ identities, a man and a woman, have been hidden from the press at the request of their families. The number of 9/11 victims identified has now reached 1,649, according to the city’s mayor and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).
Al-Qaeda terrorists killed 2,753 people when they crashed two hijacked civilian passenger planes into New York’s Twin Towers. According to the news agency, the overall number of fatalities lost in the day’s terror incident was 2,977. New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a statement released late Friday said: “We hope these new identifications can bring some measure of comfort to the families of these victims, and the ongoing efforts by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner attest to the city’s unwavering commitment to reunite all the World Trade Center victims with their loved ones.”
The two victims were identified through the use of “next-generation sequencing technology
As per the news agency report, the two victims were identified through the use of “next-generation sequencing technology — more sensitive and rapid than conventional DNA techniques.” Their remains were collected years ago. Prior to this, the last two 9/11 assault victims were identified roughly two years ago, in 2021. To date, 1,104 victims have gone unidentified, and progress in determining their identities has been excruciatingly slow. Thousands of people were killed in the 2001 catastrophe. After collapsing with a loud roar, the trade center’s two towers — first the south tower, then the north tower — crumbled with choking grey dust.
A downpour of fire and twisted steel descended on everyone in the vicinity of the disaster. The level of violence was so high that hundreds of individuals who went missing have still to be found 22 years later. Every year on September 11, New York commemorates the catastrophe.