Americans paused Friday to mark 25 years since the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
In New York, Vice President JD Vance and the four living former presidents — George W. Bush, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton — joined Mayor Zohran Mamdani and victims’ relatives at the downtown memorial. Family members were to read the names of all 2,977 victims, with moments of silence marking the crashes and collapses. No speeches were planned at the Ground Zero ceremony.
President Donald Trump commemorated the anniversary at the Pentagon. A parallel ceremony was held in Shanksville. A drone display of 2,977 lights rose over New York Harbor ahead of the memorials, organizers said, one light for each person killed.
The New York City Fire Department lost 343 members on the day of the attacks; department figures show more than 600 additional firefighters, including some retirees from the rescue effort, have since died of 9/11-related illnesses, 26 of them this year alone, Reuters reported.
Sources: Reuters via Straits Times, BBC, RTÉ
