Official commemorations of the September 11th attacks are underway
Image credit: Euronews
Official commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States are underway.
The commemoration in New York began with a minute of silence at 08:46 EST (13:46 BST), the exact time the first plane struck the World Trade Center’s North Tower in 2001.
Thousands of people have congregated around the United States to commemorate the tragic event.
On Saturday, President Joe Biden will visit all three terror attack sites: New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
A minute’s silence will also be observed at the times when the second plane smashed into the World Trade Center’s South Tower, a third plane struck the Pentagon in Virginia, a fourth hijacked plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, and the World Trade Center towers fell.
Suicide attackers hijacked US passenger planes and crashed them, killing 2,977 people in total.
President Biden paid respect to the victims and the sadness that has followed their families for two decades in a video published on the eve of the anniversary.
“These commemorations bring everything horribly back, as if you just heard the news a few seconds ago,” he remarked, no matter how much time has passed.
A vigil was conducted earlier on Saturday at the New York Fire Department memorial wall, a 56-foot-long bronze wall honouring the 343 firemen who died on the day of the attacks.
The attacks claimed the lives of 441 first responders, the highest loss of emergency personnel in American history.
In his statement on Friday, Vice President Biden added, “We honor all those who risked and gave their lives in the minutes, hours, months, and years thereafter.”