On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the official commemoration ceremony in New York will for the first time include a moment of silence dedicated to the thousands who have since died from illnesses linked to their exposure to toxic pollution released when the Twin Towers collapsed.
Issued on: 11/09/2026 – 07:16
3 min Reading time
On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda hijackers seized control of two commercial airliners that struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in downtown New York City.
A third hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while a fourth plane was diverted to a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back against the hijackers.
The coordinated attacks claimed the lives of 2,977 people, predominantly in the collapse of the Twin Towers at the site now known as Ground Zero.
However, over the subsequent 25 years, thousands of survivors, rescue workers, and first responders have developed severe, chronic illnesses resulting from exposure to the toxic dust and debris generated by the collapses.
A Seventh Moment of Silence
According to a federal medical monitoring programme, more than 9,400 individuals have succumbed to illnesses linked to exposure to contaminated air at or near Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and other related sites.
In recognition of these losses, organisers at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum have introduced a seventh moment of silence to the annual commemoration ceremony scheduled for Friday.
While previous commemorations featured six moments of silence marking the times of the plane impacts and the tower collapses, this new observance honors those who suffered and perished in the years following the tragedy.
The additional moment of silence will take place after the reading of the victims’ names, acknowledging the long-term impact on firefighters, police officers, construction workers, volunteers, local residents, office workers, and students who were exposed to the hazardous environment in the aftermath.
New Disclosures and Accountability
This year’s commemorations coincide with the release of tens of thousands of documents showing New York City officials failed to disclose everything they knew about air toxicity in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
“These documents show what the city knew about the toxic air around Ground Zero, when they knew it, and how they acted to limit liability,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani told a news conference on Tuesday.
The release of the 170,000 pages of documents is part of an agreement with 9/11 Health Watch, a victims’ advocacy group that had taken legal action to compel the city to make the documents public. More are due to be published online over the next 12 months.
“For 25 years, four different mayoral administrations withheld documents from the public, the US Congress, and the city council showing what the city actually knew about the danger of toxic chemicals in lower Manhattan and western Brooklyn after the World Trade Center collapse, even as city officials continued messaging to the public that the air was ‘safe and acceptable’,” said Benjamin Chevat, the group’s director, in a statement.
The documents are expected to implicate two former New York mayors: Rudy Giuliani, who was in office at the time of the attacks, and Michael Bloomberg, who served as mayor from January 2002 to December 2013.
“This goes across a multitude of those that New Yorkers have trusted,” Mamdani said. “People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them it was safe to breathe toxic air.”
Political Commemorations and the Tribute in Light
In addition to the official ceremony, various events are taking place across New York and other locations to mark the anniversary.
Among these is the ‘Tribute in Light,’ featuring two vertical beams of light representing the Twin Towers, which will illuminate the New York skyline from dusk on September 11 until dawn on September 12.
In a break from tradition, US President Donald Trump will pay his respects at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., rather than attending the ceremony at Ground Zero. Instead, Vice President JD Vance will represent the administration at the New York memorial site.
Trump’s four living predecessors—Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton, alongside Republican George W. Bush, who was president during the attacks—are all expected to attend the ceremony at Ground Zero.
(with newswires)
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