For the first time, the annual 9/11 remembrance ceremony will include an additional moment of silence honoring those who have died in the aftermath of the attacks from illnesses they contracted from exposure to ground zero.
The 9/11 Memorial & Museum, which runs the ceremony, announced the gesture in May. Earlier this week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani released documents related to air quality that showed the air around the fallen Twin Towers remained toxic for much longer than officials claimed at the time.
The ceremony at ground zero has previously included six moments of silence — one for each time a tower was struck, one for when each tower fell, one for when the Pentagon was hit and one for the crash of United Flight 93.
This new moment for the many who were sickened in the days, weeks and months following the attacks is the seventh, and will be observed after the reading of the victims’ names concludes on Friday.
“The 9/11 attacks caused devastation that extended far beyond that single day,” Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City and current chairman of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, said in a statement announcing the moment of silence. “As we mark the 25th anniversary, adding this moment of silence ensures that we never forget every life lost on that day and in the years since.”
Mr. Mamdani said Tuesday that more people had died from illnesses related to the Sept. 11 attacks than the 2,977 killed on the day itself. In the 25 years since, people who spent time in Lower Manhattan have died from lung and blood cancers, as well as heart and respiratory diseases.
The mayor’s office plans to release more reports related to environmental risks stemming from ground zero over the following year. The records released this week painted a picture of a city working hard to respond to an unprecedented attack, while likely urging workers to return to offices and residents to return to apartments around ground zero before it was safe to do so.
“The devastating truth is that the suffering did not end once the smoke cleared and the dust settled,” Mr. Mamdani said on Tuesday at a news conference. “People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air.”
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