Three more people have been confirmed as victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, which killed more almost 2,700 almost 24 years ago, New York City officials said Thursday.
The newly identified victims are Ryan Fitzgerald, of Floral Park, New York; Barbara Keating, of Palm Springs, California; and a woman whose name is being withheld at her family’s request, New York’s mayor and chief medical examiner announced.
The chief medical examiner’s office identified them through “family outreach and advanced DNA analysis,” the officials said.
“Nearly 25 years after the disaster at the World Trade Center, our commitment to identify the missing and return them to their loved ones stands as strong as ever,” the chief medical examiner, Dr. Jason Graham, said in a statement.
The three are the 1,651st, 1,652nd and 1,653rd victims identified in the attacks and the first to be identified since last year, Graham and Mayor Eric Adams said.
The remains of Keating and the woman were recovered in 2001, and Fitzgerald’s remains were recovered in 2002, officials said.
Although they were officially identified through DNA analysis, the names of Keating and Fitzgerald are among the nearly 3,000 names inscribed at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.
Around 1,100 victims remain unidentified, the medical examiner's office said.
"Each new identification testifies to the promise of science and sustained outreach to families despite the passage of time. We continue this work as our way of honoring the lost," Graham said.
The 9/11 attacks killed 2,977 people in all, including 2,753 in New York City.
The attacks, which used hijacked passenger planes, destroyed the twin towers at the World Trade Center, and a plane was crashed into the Pentagon. A passenger flight that was to be used in the attacks, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in Pennsylvania.
