A grandmother who perished amid the 9/11 attacks has finally been identified, more then two decades later.
For the past 24 years, the remains of Barbara Keating have remained a mystery.
Following the Twin Towers terrorist attacks in 2001, during which the 72-year-old was one of almost 3,000 to die when the jet she was travelling on collided with the North Tower, memorial services saw the rubble of the World Trade Center used in her urn in absence of her ashes.
The attacks, carried out by Islamist extremists Al-Qaeda, saw two hijacked planes crash into the Lower Manhattan buildings while a third careered into the Pentagon. A fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.
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The tragic chapter in US history remains the deadliest attack to ever happen on American soil.
Both the North Tower and the South Tower became engulfed into flames from the planes and saw the skyscrapers, which were at the time the third and fourth tallest buildings in the word, collapse into a heap.
Tragically, not everyone who died in the horrific attacks has been identified with around 40 percent (1,100 victims) remaining unknown.
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The family of the Californian grandmother held little hopes these years later that Keating would ever be discovered in the debris - until advanced DNA analysis carried out this summer finally confirmed a match.
The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) announced on August 7 that the remains of three victims have been confirmed, including Keating of Palm Springs, California, alongside Ryan Fitzgerald, of Floral Park, New York, and another woman whose name has not been made public at the request of her relatives.
Reacting to the news, her youngest son Paul Keating, now 61, told CNN of his deep appreciation for the medical examiner's office for their dedication in finding answers for victims' families.
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Describing his mom as a 'superwoman' with a 'bleeding heart' for her sympathy to social causes and helping people with disabilities, Keating said she lived life as though in a 'mission'.
After surviving breast cancer twice, she tragically lost her husband in 1983 to a brain tumor but never lost her determination, Paul said.
She later turned to volunteering with the church in her retirement and helping out with her grandchildren, then aged six and three.
After bidding farewell to his mom at Boston Logan International Airport where she boarded American Airlines Flight 11 to Los Angeles that fateful morning, Paul recalls watching the World Trade Center go up in smoke just hours later.
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"I had no idea it was my mother’s plane,” he said.
The family had some glimmers of hope over the years that the authorities were inching closer to identifying her remains after finding her ATM card and later a hairbrush that was a DNA match.
“That’s when it really hit home: These people have been doing this for that long, at that level of effort,” Paul added.
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Now, he says the confirmed DNA evidence has brought the situation 'somewhat full circle' for the family.
“It was personal to them, and they felt like they were on a mission for us.
"She [his mom Barbara] would be really, really impressed with this group that works on our behalf.”
“It does actually bring it to conclusion,” he said. "I hope the same for the families that haven’t heard so far.”
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“They have given us a form of closure … and we deeply, deeply appreciate it.”
The identities of all three, the first since January last year, were made possible due to advances in DNA science.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham told the outlet the breakthroughs have allowed the team to 'work with smaller amounts of DNA' and with 'very degraded samples' that previously would have been unusable.
Liv Bridge