Americans mark 25th anniversary of 9/11 attacks with moments of silence and name readings

Twenty-five years after the deadliest attack on US soil, Americans paused on Friday to commemorate the nearly 3,000 people killed when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania – and to wrestle with the consequences of September 11 that reverberate to this day.

In New York, family members of the victims, many carrying pictures of their loved ones, joined Vice-President J.D. Vance and four former US presidents at ground zero in Lower Manhattan.

The ceremony began, as always, at 8.46am with a moment of silence to remember the shocking instant when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the World Trade Centre’s North Tower.

Shortly after, victims’ family members began reading aloud the names of all 2,977 people who died on September 11, as well as the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, a sombre recitation that lasts for hours.

In a reminder of the time that has passed, some readers were children who had never met the relatives they lost in 2001.

Other moments of silence followed, marking when the other three planes crashed and the two towers collapsed. For the first time, a seventh moment of silence was set to honour the thousands who have died since 2001 from illnesses tied to the toxic dust that poisoned the air for months afterwards.