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Remains identified following the September 11, 2001 attacks (cumulative)
Respond to disasters and emergencies when fatalities are involved. — Identify victims of disasters and return their remains to families in a timely manner.
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual |
|---|---|
| FY22 | 14,771 |
| FY23 | 14,867 |
| FY24 | 14,914 |
| FY25 | 14,933 |
| FY26 (YTD) | 14,939 |
14,939 in FY26 — has no numeric target set by the City, and it has trended toward improvement over the past 3 years of reported data.
Why this is tracked
OCME maintains a dedicated division of specially trained experts who respond to mass-fatality events and disasters, work that goes beyond a single medical examiner's office because major emergencies can produce hundreds or thousands of victims at once. The agency's ongoing effort to identify remains from the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack, which killed 2,753 people, is considered the largest and most complex forensic investigation ever undertaken in the United States; as of recent years roughly 40 percent of victims remained unidentified, and OCME continues to make new identifications as DNA sequencing technology improves.
NYC.gov - OCME Announces Two New Identifications of World Trade Center Victims, NIJ - Lessons Learned From 9/11: DNA Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents
Source: Forensic Biology Laboratory, World Trade Center Records Unit — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported monthly.
Definition: The cumulative number of human remains recovered from the September 11, 2001 disaster site that have been identified.