Express & Star

Group vows to stage twin beams of light for September 11 tribute

The light display had been cancelled due to concerns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

Published
Virus Outbreak-Sept 11-Anniversary

Plans are back on to beam twin columns of light into the Manhattan sky to represent the World Trade Centre during next month’s anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced on Friday that it is working on plans to shine the twin beams during its alternative September 11 ceremony.

The move comes a day after the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which organises the main annual tribute at the trade centre site, cancelled the light display over concerns about work crews during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The twin beams of light that shine over lower Manhattan in silent tribute to those lost on 9/11 are an iconic symbol of hope visibly showing that light will always triumph over darkness,” said Frank Siller, chairman and chief executive of the foundation.

Last week, the foundation decided to hold an alternative September 11 Never Forget ceremony after the National September 11 Memorial & Museum announced that family members will not read the names of the nearly 3,000 victims this year because of the pandemic.

The foundation’s tribute will be held just south of the memorial plaza and relatives will read the victims’ names, with mask-wearing enforced and podiums being sanitised after each speaker.

The exact location of the twin beams display has yet to be determined, said officials with the foundation, a charity founded to honour the memory of New York City firefighter Stephen Siller, who died in the attacks and was Frank Siller’s brother.

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