How many people died in 9/11? Firefighters, passengers and more who died 22 years ago.
This Sept. 11 marks 22 years since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, an event that 60%-38% of those surveyed in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll said changed Americans’ lives forever.
On the morning of Sept. 11, United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11 departed from Boston en route to California before hijackers crashed them into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, while passengers attempted to overtake United Airlines Flight 93 from hijackers before it crash-landed in Pennsylvania.
How many people died in 9/11?
The 9/11 attacks left 2,977 dead across New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania, according to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. That total includes the 2,753 who died after the planes struck the Twin Towers, 184 people at the Pentagon and 40 people who died when Flight 93 crash-landed in Pennsylvania.
The youngest flight passenger who died was Christine Hanson, a 2-year-old on her way to Disneyland on United Airlines Flight 175. The oldest was Robert Norton, 82, who was on American Airlines Flight 11.
The 19 hijackers from the militant Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda also died.
The 9/11 victims are memorialized at the site of the former World Trade Center towers. The victims’ names are engraved around pools based on their location at the time of the attacks and their relationship to other victims, so “almost every name is surrounded by people they cared about in some way,” according to the 9/11 Ground Zero Tour. Each morning, staff members place white roses on certain names to signify the victim’s birthday.
Sept. 11 by the numbers: Facts from a tragic day in American history
How many firefighters died on 9/11?
Three hundred and forty-three firefighters died on 9/11, which at the time was nearly half the number of on-duty deaths in the New York City Fire Department’s entire 100-year history.
In 2019, it was reported that the 200th New York City firefighter had died of Ground Zero-related illnesses, including the effects of toxic contaminants, traumatic injuries and physical and emotional stress. Last year, the FDNY reported that number was closer to 300.
According to the World Trade Center Health Program, over 71,000 individuals have been diagnosed with physical and mental health conditions brought on by exposure to the dust, smoke, debris and trauma of the 9/11 attacks.
How many 9/11 victims were never found?
Around 40% of the victims have yet to be identified, according to the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). That’s about 1,106 people. In Sept. 2021, OCME identified the 1,646th and 1,647th victims with a DNA analysis – insurance broker Dorothy Morgan and a man whose identity has been withheld at the request of his family.
The effort to identify World Trade Center victims is the “largest and most complex forensic investigation in the history of the United States,” OCME reports.
Health impacts continue: This 9/11 survivor also survived cancer four times
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How many people died in 9/11? Numbers behind tragic terrorist attack.