he remains of two new victims killed in the 9\/11 attacks were identified by New York City officials shortly before the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
A man and a woman \u2014 whose names are being withheld at the request of their families \u2014 were identified using advanced DNA technology, officials announced Friday.
The positive results came after more than two decades of previous testing and negative results as officials used next-generation sequencing technology, which is also used by the military to identify missing service members.
\u201cAs we prepare to mark the anniversary of September 11, our thoughts turn to those we lost on that terrible morning and their families who continue to live every day with the pain of missing loved ones,\u201d New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement Friday.
\u201cWe 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 [OCME] attest to the city\u2019s unwavering commitment to reunite all the World Trade Center victims with their loved ones.\u201d
The man was identified using remains found in 2001, while the woman was identified using remains recovered from 2001, 2006 and 2013, according to the city. The two new identifications mark the first identifications since September 2021.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed as hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pa., making it the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.\u00a0New York City officials noted that about 40 percent of those killed \u2014 1,104 people \u2014 remain unidentified to this day.
\u201cMore than 20 years after the disaster, these two new identifications continue to fulfill a solemn pledge that OCME made to return the remains of World Trade Center victims to their loved ones,\u201d said Jason Graham, the city\u2019s chief medical examiner. \u201cFaced with the largest and most complex forensic investigation in the history of our country, we stand undaunted in our mission to use the latest advances in science to serve this promise.\u201d
U.S. officials were set to commemorate the 22nd\u00a0anniversary of the attack from all around the country Monday. President Biden is joining service members at a ceremony in Anchorage, Alaska, Vice President Harris is joining the ceremony in New York City and first lady Jill Biden is\u00a0laying a wreath\u00a0at the 9\/11 memorial at the Pentagon. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is also expected at a wreath-laying ceremony in Shanksville at the Flight 93 National Memorial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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