Ghost of World Trade Centre rises in haunting 9/11 drone display
A massive drone display has paid homage to each victim of the 9/11 attacks as the US prepares to commemorate 25 years since that world-shaking day.
On September 11, 2001, al-Quaeda terrorists carried out multiple devastating attacks on the US, most prominently by flying two passenger aeroplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.
A drone display commemorated the victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York. Nine
Two other hijacked planes also crashed, one into the Pentagon. The passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 famously fought back against the hijackers and forced the plane to crash into a field rather than its intended target in Washington DC
The shocking footage of the destruction of the World Trade Centre was broadcast around the world.
Thousands were killed, and the attacks jolted a grieving, enraged US into multiple wars in the Middle East, the reverberations of which resound today.
The death toll from the attacks amounted to 2977, not including those of the 19 attackers, making them the deadliest terror attacks in human history.
This year, New York Harbour commemorated each of those victims with a lit-up drone in a breathtaking display.
The art installation then shifted to recreate full-scale outlines of the Twin Towers.
Organisers said the display was created with input from members of “the 9/11 community”, including survivors, first responders, and victims’ families.
New York’s official commemoration of the tragedy will take place on September 11 US time.
As per tradition, it will involve the names of the victims being read aloud, with pauses for silence at the moment of each plane crash, and at the moment each tower fell.
Thousands were killed in the attacks. Nine
The World Trade Centre was destroyed in 2001. Robert Clark
A seventh moment of silence will be added this year, for the thousands of people who have since died from diseases linked to the toxic ash and rubble they were exposed to as they fought to rescue people from the tower wreckage.
“As the years pass and the human toll grows, we reckon with the cost of September 11th whenever another New Yorker is stolen from us too soon,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said this week.
“Now, close to 25 years later, more people have died from 9/11-related illnesses than were killed on the day itself.”
Survivors and first responders continue to be diagnosed with illnesses linked to the attacks.
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