９１１象徴する１枚 ＮＹの元消防士死去 ９１歳

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】２００１年９月１１日の米同時多発攻撃を象徴する写真の１枚に、当時のジョージ・Ｗ・ブッシュ大統領と共に写った元消防士のロバート・ベックウィズ氏が死去した。９１歳。ニューヨーク市消防局が５日発表した。（写真は米同時多発攻撃の３日後にニューヨーク市を訪れ、元消防士のロバート・ベックウィズ氏の肩に手を回すジョージ・Ｗ・ブッシュ元大統領＜左＞）
　米同時多発攻撃当時、６９歳だったベックウィズ氏はすでに消防士を引退していたが、ハイジャックされた旅客機が突っ込み倒壊した世界貿易センタービル（ＷＴＣ）へ駆け付け、生存者の救出活動に加わった。
　事件から３日後の９月１４日、現地を訪れたブッシュ大統領は消防隊のヘルメットをかぶったベックウィズ氏の肩に手を回し、メガホンで演説した。この姿を捉えた写真は、９１１を象徴する１枚となった。
　ブッシュ氏は５日、Ｘ（旧ツイッター）への投稿で、ＷＴＣ跡地の「グラウンド・ゼロで私の隣にボブがいたことを誇りに思う」「彼の勇気は９１１後のニューヨーカーと米国人のくじけない、強靭な精神を象徴していた」と述べた。
　米同時多発攻撃ではＷＴＣ、米国防総省、ペンシルベニア州の３か所で計２９７７人が死亡、約６３００人が負傷した。
　一方、９１１犠牲者補償基金によると、攻撃そのものの犠牲者よりもさらに多くの人が事件後の関連疾患で亡くなっている。特にグラウンド・ゼロで煙と粉塵（ふんじん）にまみれながら活動した救助当局者のがんが目立つという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/02/06-20:11）

A New York firefighter who was working in the World Trade Center wreckage when George W. Bush first visited after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and who stood next to the then-president during his historic remarks, has died at 91, authorities said Monday.
The photos of Bush speaking into a megaphone with his arm draped over Robert Bob Beckwith, then-69 and wearing a fireman's helmet and T-shirt, is one of the most well-known scenes from the response at so-called Ground Zero.
Taken three days after Al-Qaeda hijackers rammed passenger planes into the Twin Towers, killing thousands of trapped workers and first responders, Beckwith's iconic picture with President Bush captured a moment that was both inspiring and heartbreaking, said Laura Kavanaugh, the current New York City Fire Department (FDNY) commissioner.
Bush, during his initial visit to the smouldering ruins in lower Manhattan, said in remarks to the responders scouring for survivors: I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon.
Beckwith, born in 1932, was a New York City firefighter from 1965 until his retirement in 1994.
He was one of many retired FDNY members who responded to the World Trade Center site in the days and months following September 11, to aid in rescue and recovery, as a testament to their devotion to their FDNY family, Kavanaugh said in a statement.
Bush said Monday he was proud to have Bob by my side at Ground Zero and privileged to stay in touch with this patriot over the years.
His courage represented the defiant, resilient spirit of New Yorkers and Americans after 9/11, Bush said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
Along with the New York attacks, hijacked planes on 9/11 also crashed into the Pentagon outside Washington and in rural Pennsylvania, killing 2,977 people in total and injuring almost 6,300.
By 2021, a compensation fund for 9/11 victims estimated that more people had died of related illnesses -- especially cancer among rescuers working at the smoke and dust-filled Ground Zero -- than were killed on the day of the attacks.