Salman
Hamdani
Young New Yorker helped rescue effort
at World Trade Center
— By Laura J. Brown
At 23 years old, Salman Hamdani was the kind of man who would
rush to the scene of an emergency to help people. His family believes that is
exactly what he did on the morning of September 11, when en route to work in Manhattan
he changed course and headed for the World Trade Center.
After Salman's disappearance, his family assumed that he must have died in
the terrorist attacks, for they could come up with no other explanation. Salman,
a trained emergency medical technician, almost certainly saw the burning towers
from his train and diverted his route to the World Trade Center. "Everyone who
knew him thought that was exactly what he would have done, that he would immediately
have wanted to help," said Joseph Nekola, a senior director at Rockefeller University,
where he worked as a lab technician.
Salman Hamdani. (Ctsy. the Hamdani
Family.) |
Cited by Congress
By October it was all but certain that Salman had died at the scene of the
terrorist attacks, and his heroism was recognized in the "USA Patriot Act" of
2001, congressional legislation on intercepting and obstructing acts of terrorism.
One section of the act reads: "Many Arab Americans and Muslim Americans have
acted heroically during the attacks on the United States, including Mohammed
Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old New Yorker of Pakistani descent, who is believed
to have gone to the World Trade Center to offer rescue assistance and is now
missing."
Talat Hamdani and her husband, Saleem, received confirmation of their son's
death March 20, 2002, nearly seven months after his disappearance. Two police
officers arrived to deliver the news that Salman's remains had been found in
the rubble of the World Trade Center. "We knew he would be there," Talat said.
"That's him — he would have gone there as soon as he saw people needed
help."
Talat Hamdani at Salman's funeral at a New York mosque.
(Viorel Florescu © 2002 Newsday, Inc.) |
Several hundred mourners attended the funeral service held at
a Manhattan mosque that Salman attended. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised
Salman's heroism, saying, "We have an example of how one can make the world
better. Salman stood up when most people would have gone in the other direction."
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly added, "He was determined to make
a diffference, and he did. He was indeed a hero."
A True Bhaijan
The eldest of three boys, Salman was known to his brothers and
extended family as "bhaijan," or "big brother." For as long as they can remember,
he wanted to be a doctor. While studying in London during college, Salman was
walking through the streets when he saw a homeless woman sitting on the ground
with blood on her face. He spoke with her, tended to her bloody nose, and gave
her some money, his mother said. In college, Salman completed training as an
emergency medical technician.
Relatives and friends at Salman's funeral in New York
City. (Viorel Florescu © 2002 Newsday, Inc.) |
Salman, who came to the United States when he was one year old,
was a fun-loving boy who loved the Star Wars films, and who chose his football
jersey number, 79, to match the address of his father's candy store. He graduated
from Queens College in June 2001 and started his new job as a laboratory technician
in July.
"You went down there to help rescue fellow Americans from the
terrorist attack on the American soil," Talat Hamdani said, addressing her fallen
son. "You did not go down to help because of their religion, ethnicity or nationality.
You went to defend your nation."
Talat is particularly proud of Salman's mention in the Patriot
Act, which Congress passed October 23. "Salman went down in U.S. history," she
said. "The nation honored him. My son did not die for nothing."
taken from http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/humantoll/hamdani.htm
Date/Time Last Modified: 9/7/2002 7:04:16 AM
© 2004, Human Development
Foundation. All rights reserved.
1350 Remington Road, Suite W, Schaumburg, Il. 60173
Toll Free: (800) 705-1310 | Email: info@yespakistan.com
| Privacy Policy
|
