For the first time, a seventh moment of silence will be observed to honour the thousands who have died since 2001 from illnesses tied to the toxic dust that poisoned the air for months afterward.
Flowers and US flags next to the reflecting pools at the 9/11 Memorial, on the day of a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Sep 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, in New York City, on Sep 11, 2026. (Photo: REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/Pool)
11 Sep 2026 09:51PM
(Updated: 11 Sep 2026 10:00PM)
NEW YORK: Twenty-five years after the deadliest attack on US soil, Americans paused on Friday (Sep 11) to commemorate the nearly 3,000 people killed when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania - and to wrestle with the consequences of Sep 11 that reverberate to this day.In New York, family members of the victims joined Vice President JD Vance and four former US presidents at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. The ceremony began, as always, at 8.46am with a moment of silence to remember the shocking instant when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the World Trade Center's North Tower.Shortly after, victims' family members began reading aloud the names of all 2,977 people who died on Sep 11, as well as the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a sombre recitation that will last for hours.Other moments of silence, marking when the other three airplanes crashed and the two towers collapsed, will follow. For the first time, a seventh silence will be observed to honour the thousands who have died since 2001 from illnesses tied to the toxic dust that poisoned the air for months afterward.
