Hundreds of people gathered at the site of the World Trade Center on Thursday in a ceremony to mark the end of the cleanup of debris left by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
The 20-minute ceremony began at 10:29 a.m. local time (1429 GMT), the time the North Tower of the center collapsed following the impact from the crash of American Airlines Flight 11 hijacked by terrorists.
The New York City Fire Department rang a fire bell 20 times to commemorate the 343 fallen firefighters who committed themselves to saving others working in the 110-story twin towers that day.
Ten people carried an empty stretcher out of the 16-acre site to symbolize all those unrecovered victims. Among the 2,823 victims, only 1,102 have been identified. Another 105 have been listed as missing.
New York State Governor George Pataki and City Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined the crowds in the ceremony. Earlier, Bloomberg told a local TV news program that people should not forget the day of terror attacks, and they should build for the future.
The ceremony heralded a new phase of reconstruction which may take years, officials said.
( May 31, 2002)
