Two more 9/11 victims identified by NYC medical examiner through DNA testing

NEW YORK (PIX11) – Two more victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center have been identified by the New York City medical examiner's office through DNA testing, city officials announced Friday.

A man and a woman are the 1,648th and 1,649th people to be identified by the medical examiner's office using advanced DNA testing of remains since 2001, officials said. The names of the two victims are being withheld at the request of their families.

"As we prepare to mark the anniversary of Sept. 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," Mayor Eric Adams said. "We hope these new identifications can bring some measure of comfort to the families of these victims…"

The two new identifications are the first among World Trade Center victims since September 2021. Around 1,100 victims still remain unidentified, officials said.

"More than 20 years after the disaster, these two new identifications continue to fulfill a solemn pledge that [the Office of Chief Medical Examiner] made to return the remains of World Trade Center victims to their loved ones," said Dr. Jason Graham, New York City's chief medical examiner.

This Monday marks 22 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City will hold its annual commemoration ceremony Monday morning honoring the nearly 3,000 lives lost on that day.