Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, approximately 40% of the 2,753 people who died at the World Trade Center in New York have still not been identified. This represents more than a thousand victims whose remains could not be formally associated with an identity, despite forensic work that began immediately after the tragedy and continues to this day.
The conditions at the site after the towers collapsed were extreme. The temperature at the site reached 982°C, and thousands of tons of debris covered the area, enormously hindering the recovery and identification of bodies.
For many families, this means that even after a quarter of a century, no trace of their relatives has been recovered and delivered for burial. Juliette Scauso lost her father Dennis when she was just 4 years old and stated that she has essentially spent her entire life knowing her father died and learning to live with the fact that his remains were never recovered.
