9/11 victims

April 8th 2018

The toll of 9/11 victims has increased following the deaths of two men who helped with the rescue efforts following the terrorist attack on New York.

Thomas Phelan and Keith Young both died of cancer within a day of each other in March 2018.

According to records maintained by the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York (UFANYC) union, theirs were the 172nd and 173rd deaths of firefighters to have occurred because of 9/11-related illnesses, and the sixth and seventh so far this year.

About 400,000 people are believed to have been exposed to toxic contaminants, or suffered injury or trauma in lower Manhattan that day, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In an interview with the BBC, the president of the UFANYC said that roughly one in eight firefighters who were at Ground Zero have since come down with cancer.

You can read the full story here.