September 11 is a "stark reminder" of the continuing threat of terrorism and the world must unite against this menace, India's Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu has said, as he paid homage to the victims of the terror attacks at the 9/11 Memorial here.
"Paid respects at the 9/11 Memorial in #NewYork today. Remembering all the innocent victims of the dastardly attacks," Sandhu said in a tweet on Saturday.
"20 years on, 9/11 is a stark reminder of the continuing threat of #terrorism. The world must unite against this menace!" Sandhu said.
Sandhu, accompanied by India's Consul General in New York Randhir Jaiswal and officials from the Indian Embassy and Consulate, visited the 9/11 Memorial and paid respects at the memorial pools that sit in the footprints of the former North and South Towers that had collapsed as American Airlines and United Airlines planes hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists crashed into them.
The names of the 2,983 people who were killed in the 2001 and 1993 terrorist attacks are inscribed on the bronze parapets edging the memorial pools.
Flowers and national flags were placed on the bronze edges of the memorial pools in memory of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. The Indian tricolour was also placed near the names of some of the people who were from India and had died in the attacks.
Nearly 3,000 people from over 90 countries, including India, were killed in the 9/11 terror attacks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the 9/11 memorial site in September 2014 and paid a solemn homage to victims of the 2001 terror attack, placing five rose buds one by one on the memorial slabs where names of the victims are etched.
As America marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, President Joe Biden visited all three sites of the 9/11 attacks -- New York City; Arlington, Virginia; and Somerset County, Pennsylvania - where the hijacked planes had crashed.
Biden, along with First Lady Jill Biden and accompanied by former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and former First Lady Michelle Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton observed moments of silence at the 9/11 Memorial where the Twin Towers were brought down as the hijacked planes crashed into them.
During the memorial, relatives and friends read out the names of all those who had died in the attacks.
On the eve of the 9/11 anniversary, Biden in a video message said that the 2,977 people from more than 90 nations killed on September 11, 2001 in New York City, Arlington, Virginia, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the thousands more who were injured, America and the world commemorate you and your loved ones. The pieces of your soul.
"We honour all those who risked and gave their lives in the minutes, hours, months and years afterwards. The firefighters, police officers, EMTs and construction workers and doctors and nurses, faith leaders, service members and veterans. All of the everyday people who gave their all to rescue, recover and rebuild."
"But it is so hard. Whether it's the first year or the 20th. Children have grown up without parents, parents have suffered without children, husbands and wives had to find ways forward without their partners in their life with them," he said.
