New York Harbor has staged a striking drone display to honor every victim of the 9/11 attacks as the United States approaches 25 years since the day that changed the world.

Created with input from members of “the 9/11 community”, including survivors, first responders, and victims’ families, the installation featured one illuminated drone for each person killed in the attacks. The display then transformed into full-scale outlines of the Twin Towers.

New York’s official commemoration will take place on September 11 US time. In keeping with tradition, the ceremony will include the victims’ names being read aloud, along with pauses for silence at the moment each plane crashed and when each tower fell.

A seventh moment of silence is being added this year for the thousands of people who have since died from diseases linked to the toxic ash and rubble they were exposed to while trying to rescue people from the wreckage.

“As the years pass and the human toll grows, we reckon with the cost of September 11th whenever another New Yorker is stolen from us too soon,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said this week.

“Now, close to 25 years later, more people have died from 9/11-related illnesses than were killed on the day itself.”

Survivors and first responders are still being diagnosed with illnesses connected to the attacks.

On September 11, 2001, al-Quaeda terrorists carried out several devastating attacks on the US. The most infamous saw two passenger aeroplanes flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, scenes of destruction that were broadcast across the globe.

Two other hijacked planes also went down, including one that crashed into the Pentagon. Passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 famously fought back against the hijackers, forcing the aircraft to come down in a field rather than reaching its intended target in Washington DC.

The attacks killed 2977 people, not including the 19 attackers, and remain the deadliest terror attacks in human history. The mass killings left the US grieving and enraged, and helped drive multiple wars in the Middle East whose consequences are still felt today.