New York prepares to mark the devastating attacks of September 11, 2001 on Thursday, 24 years after the deadly plane hijackings that claimed almost 3,000 lives and forever changed the United States.
Vice President JD Vance was expected to attend memorial events at Ground Zero in Manhattan where the World Trade Center's twin towers were destroyed in coordinated attacks that also saw a jetliner crashed into the nerve center of American military power, the Pentagon in Washington.
Another jet, Flight 93, crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside when passengers overran the hijacker and took control of the aircraft.
This year’s gathering takes place against a backdrop of sharp political division both in the city and nationally.
New York is in the grip of an unprecedented mayoral election campaign in which socialist Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing off against former governor Andrew Cuomo and sitting mayor Eric Adams.
New Yorkers go to the polls on November 4.
It was unclear which of the mayoral candidates would attend the ceremony that is always attended by the sitting mayor as well as community leaders.
It was unclear if President Trump would attend New York’s commemorative events as he has in years past.
New York will mark a citywide moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. (1246 GMT), the time that hijacked Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Places of worship across the city will sound their bells to mark the impact as families of the victims read the names of those killed at ground zero.
The official death toll was 2,977 including the passengers and crew of the four hijacked planes, victims in the twin towers, firefighters, and personnel at the Pentagon. The death toll excludes the 19 Al-Qaeda hijackers.
With AFP
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