New York City officials identified the remains of two new victims from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks more than 20 years later.
According to NYC’s official website, the man and woman, whose identities have been released at the request of their families, are the 1,648th and 1,649th persons to be identified by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) with the help of advanced DNA testing.
“The identification of the man was confirmed through DNA testing of remains recovered in 2001. The identification of the woman was confirmed through DNA testing of remains recovered in 2001, 2006, and 2013,” according to the city.
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The remains are the first new identifications of World Trade Center victims since September 2021. Roughly 40% of the nearly 3,000 victims who died during the attacks have yet to be identified.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) released a statement about the discovery.
“As we prepare to mark the anniversary of Sept. 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. 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,” he said.
New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham spoke about OCME’s mission to help families reunite with their deceased loved ones.
“More 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,” he shared. “Faced 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.”
