NEW YORK — Twenty-five years ago Friday morning, out of a very clear, very blue sky, a 135-ton airliner going over 400 mph slammed into the 96th floor of a Manhattan office building, setting in motion one of the darkest, deadliest days New York and the nation have ever known.

And on Friday morning, as on every Sept. 11 since 2001, survivors, mourners and politicians are gathering in Manhattan for the city’s most somber ritual: reading the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed that day in the terror attacks in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Similar observances are scheduled at the other two sites.

The ceremony in New York got underway, as always, at 8:46 a.m., with a beat of silence honoring the moment when the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, struck the north tower of the World Trade Center. Relatives of those who died — including some children who had never met their grandparents who were killed — began reciting their names. Five more silences will follow, marking the times when other flights crashed and buildings fell.

But this year, a new, seventh moment of silence will be observed at the end of the ceremony, to mourn those who have perished over the last quarter-century from cancer and other illnesses because of the toxic dust they inhaled in the days and months after the attacks.

The new rite underscores the unending reverberations from that September day: Even as 2001 recedes into the past, deaths from 9/11-related disease are only accelerating and are believed to have outstripped the toll on 9/11 itself.

This week brought a revelation that for many in the city felt like a fresh wound. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani released over 170,000 pages of reports, records and correspondence that, taken together, leave the impression that the city’s leaders, in their desperation to get lower Manhattan and Wall Street up and running again, misled New Yorkers about the lingering dangers.

“People got sick because the leaders they trust lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mamdani said on Tuesday.

Though the New York memorial service is typically apolitical, a widow of one of the victims made an impassioned address about U.S. officials continuing to work with Saudi Arabia, years after the attacks and as family members have sought to hold the Saudis responsible in federal court. “It has been one betrayal after another,” the widow, Terry Strada, said.

At Friday morning’s ceremony in New York, all four living ex-presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden — are in attendance. So is Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, despite a petition signed by thousands of victims’ family members urging him to stay away. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other right-wing activists have also objected to Mamdani’s presence.

President Donald Trump plans to attend the ceremony at the Pentagon, rather than in New York, in part because he wanted to deliver a speech and the New York event does not allow speeches, according to several people with knowledge of the events. Vice President JD Vance is taking his place in New York.

Here’s What Else to Know:

— How to watch: The New York ceremony can be viewed at 911memorialmuseum.brightcovegallery.com. The Shanksville observance, which started at 8:30, can be seen at www.youtube.com/@Flight93NationalMemorial. The Pentagon ceremony, hosted by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, began at 9 a.m. and can be seen at www.war.gov.

— Ceremony guests: Elected officials and dignitaries arrived at the memorial in New York, including Vance; the four ex-presidents; Mamdani; former Mayors Bill de Blasio and Giuliani; Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader; and Letitia James, the New York state attorney general.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Andy Newman/Hiroko Masuike
c. 2026 The New York Times Company