New York announces two 9/11 victims identified 22 years after attack

Two victims recovered from the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 have been identified 22 years after the deadly terrorist plot, New York officials said in a Friday release. 

The man and woman, whose names are being withheld at the request of their families, are the 1,648th and 1,649th victims to be identified, Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham announced. 

The victims were identified using advanced DNA testing of their remains, including recently adopted next-generation sequencing technology, which has been used to identify missing U.S. service members and the victims of the Maui wildfires. 

“As we prepare to mark the anniversary of September 11, our thoughts turn to those we lost on that terrible morning and their families who continue to live every day with the pain of missing loved ones,” Adams said in a statement. “We hope these new identifications can bring some measure of comfort to the families of these victims, and the ongoing efforts by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner attest to the city’s unwavering commitment to reunite all the World Trade Center victims with their loved ones.”

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Graham said the identifications continue to fulfill the “solemn pledge” made by his office to “return the remains of World Trade Center victims to their loved ones.” 

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He added, “Faced with the largest and most complex forensic investigation in the history of our country, we stand undaunted in our mission to use the latest advances in science to serve this promise.”

The man was identified through remains recovered in 2001 and the woman was identified through remains recovered first in 2001, 2006 and 2013. 

They are the first 9/11 victim identification since 2021, while more than 1,000 of the victims remain unidentified. 

The unidentified remains are currently being stored at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.