New York on Wednesday remembered the nearly 3,000 fatalities left behind by the 23 years since the attacks of September 11, 2001a date that marked a turning point both inside and outside the United States. The area around the so-called 9/11 Memorial hosted a commemorative event attended by family members and loved ones and which brought together, for the second day in a row, the candidates for the presidency of the country, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, just a few hours after their first televised face-to-face meeting.
At ground zero, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood before the attack, the wives, husbands, sisters, brothers and grandchildren of the deceased They have read the names of their loved ones killed on 9/11. That day, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial planes at different points on the east coast of the United States; two of them hit each of the twin towers, a third hit the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, in Virginia, and the fourth hit a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The Democratic candidate arrived at the event just behind US President Joe Biden, and Trump was accompanied by his running mate in these elections, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance. When they met, the presidential candidates shook hands and exchanged a few brief words in a meeting that was the second time they had met in person. The first time was on Tuesday, in an electoral debate marked by disagreements between the two.
The two candidates then took part in the official photo, in which Biden, the Democratic Senate Majority Leader and Senator for New York, Chuck Schumer, and the former mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013, Michael Bloomberg, also posed.
Attendees remember the 2,917 victims
As every year, those attending the event have placed flowers and American flags in the place where the names of the victims are now engraved. 2,977 victims over the two large ditches that are now in the place where the Twin Towers stood until 23 years ago. More than two decades later, The attacks carried out by Al Qaeda remain part of memory of an entire country.
“My brother disappeared on September 11 and this ceremony is essential, because he disappeared, but if I speak here and say his name out loud and you hear his name, he will never disappear“, said one of the relatives.
In a statement, the current president has stated that “23 years ago today, terrorists thought they could defeat us and get on our knees […]”They were wrong and they will always be wrong. Even in our darkest hour, we have seen the light, in the face of fear, we have united,” the Democratic president said.
“We will never forget it“Harris said in a message posted on her X account. “We stand in solidarity with their families and loved ones. We also honor the extraordinary heroism displayed on that fateful day by ordinary Americans who helped their fellow Americans,” the post reads.
The Democratic candidate, for his part, referred to the attacks during an interview on Fox News.It was a very, very sad, horrible, horrible day“There has never been anything like it, a horrible day,” he said.
23 years since the worst attack in US history
On an anniversary that occurs in the middle of an election campaign, Elvin Garcia, a firefighter of Ecuadorian origin who worked in the rescue operations, has asked the next president of the United States to care for the families of the victims and has recalled that “many of the deceased were the sole providers of income for their families.”
“It’s good that the people behind the attacks are in prison, but we’re talking about a great tragedy and a great loss, and that can never be repaired,” Lisa Mendez, cousin of Edward Calderón, who died in the attack, told EFE.
On a fateful morning, The main attack occurred in New York at 08:46 in the morning, when a passenger plane crashed into the North Tower. Seventeen minutes later, another aircraft crashed into the South Tower and, just half an hour later, at 09:37, Washington became the target when a third aircraft crashed into the Pentagon building.
By then, the fourth plane remained hijacked, but the 40 passengers and crew rebelled and managed to crash it into a field in Pennsylvania, causing no deaths other than those on board. Meanwhile, at the World Trade Center, the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. and the North Tower at 10:28 a.m.
After New York, Biden and Harris flew to Shanksville, where passengers on United Flight 93 overcame the hijackers. The president and vice president will then head back to the Washington area to visit a memorial at the Pentagon. Trump is also scheduled to visit the Pennsylvania memorial.
