When the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre crashed to the ground on September 11th 2001 most people tried to flee from the scene. Others came to Ground Zero to offer their support – fire fighters and other emergency workers came from across the country. Thousands died as an immediate result. Now, more than a decade later, people are still dying because of the terrorist attack, which as a side-effect caused the release of asbestos into the atmosphere.
This is because of the huge amount of toxic and hazardous material that they would have been exposed to. The first 40 floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Centre were built using asbestos. When it collapsed around 1,000 tons of asbestos was released into the atmosphere. The asbestos fibres could potentially have been inhaled by tens and even hundreds of thousands of people in or around the World Trade Centre complex and perhaps even further afield.
Mesothelioma is an awful cancer that affects the internal organs and offers little hope for optimism. Five years after the attack someone who had been at the World Trade Centre died of mesothelioma – the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that it was her presence at Ground Zero that led to the cancer.
Usually exposure to asbestos is relatively low and problems do not begin to surface for decades – sometimes as late as 50 years later. That fact that people who were at the scene of the attacks have become ill so soon after exposure is down to the huge amount of asbestos that would have been breathed in.
The tragedy of 9/11 is hard to exaggerate, especially when you consider that the future for those who came to the area to give their help are those most at risk from developing mesothelioma. As concerns about potential compensation payments are being discussed at government level, those that have been exposed to asbestos will be more immediately concerned about seeking specialist medical advice as soon as possible.
MoneyBright can deal with any asbestos compensation claim and are experienced in handling these cases.