On this day sixteen years ago, terrorists bombed the World Trade Center killing six people, including a pregnant woman.  During the Friday lunch hour on February 26, 1993, a van loaded with 1,500 pounds of explosives was driven into the North Tower's underground public parking garage and left deserted before the bombs detonated.  The explosion left a five-story hole in the sub-grade levels of the Towers, and resulted in what was then the largest rescue effort in New York City history.   

  If terrorists sought to undermine our City’s spirit with this attack, they failed. First responders heroically and decisively took action that day. Thousands of people suffered injuries, but these survivors helped each other to evacuate the building despite overwhelming smoky conditions. City operations were maintained and business tenants began returning to the World Trade offices just one month later.

We also refused to succumb to the terrorists’ attempt to denigrate our value of individual human life. On this day, we stand in solidarity with the survivors who lived through this attack. We recognize that, like the survivors of the 9/11 attacks, they must deal with pain that never entirely goes away. We remember the innocent individuals killed: John DiGiovanni, Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen Knapp, William Macko, Wilfredo Mercado, and Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child, and offer our condolences to the loved ones they left behind. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum will honor their lives and in doing so demonstrate that our spirit of humanity remains unbroken. 

Please join me in a moment of silence at 12:18 PM EST -- the time of the explosion on February 26, 1993.