NYC released 170,000 pages showing officials knew of toxic-air dangers
The United States held remembrance ceremonies Friday marking 25 years since the September 11, 2001 attacks, honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed when hijackers turned four commercial jetliners into missiles in the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Families of victims gathered to read aloud the names of the men, women and children killed at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, when hijackers operating under al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s direction staged the coordinated strikes.
At the Ground Zero memorial in lower Manhattan, six moments of silence marked the times each World Trade Center tower was struck and collapsed, and the times a plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
This year, a seventh moment of silence — new to the commemoration — honored those who died from illnesses stemming from the attacks, including first responders, residents and workers near the World Trade Center site who developed respiratory illnesses, cancer and other chronic conditions after exposure to toxins released when the towers fell.
“The 9/11 attacks caused devastation that extended far beyond that single day,” 9/11 Memorial & Museum Chairman Michael Bloomberg said. “Over the years, tens of thousands of first responders, construction workers, volunteers, and survivors have become ill and tragically, many have died.”
President Donald Trump was scheduled to mark the 25th anniversary at the Pentagon, while Vice President JD Vance was to attend the ceremony in New York.
Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said more people have died from related illnesses over the past 25 years than were killed in the attacks themselves. Mamdani also released about 170,000 pages of documents. According to Benjamin Chevat, executive director of the advocacy group 9/11 Health Watch — which sued for the records’ release — the documents showed that city officials knew of the dangers posed by toxic chemicals in lower Manhattan even as they publicly stated the air was safe.
Researchers have found that first responders and other workers at the World Trade Center site have a higher incidence of leukemia than the general population.
Among those at Friday’s memorial in lower Manhattan was Diane Massaroli, 59, of Staten Island, wearing a badge with a picture of her late husband, Michael Massaroli, who was a 38-year-old vice president of operations at Cantor Fitzgerald when he was killed on Sept. 11, 2001.
“This is where I have to be because no remains were ever found of him,” Massaroli said. “You get through the rest of the year then once the end of August hits, you get that sick, nervous anxiety. It’s a really sick feeling. I’m just a bundle of butterflies and nerves and by the end of the day you’re just flat out exhausted.”
Massaroli’s son, who was six when his father died, and her daughter, who was two months old at the time of the attack, accompanied her at the ceremony.