Corkman who survived 9/11 attack which killed his sister and niece passes away
The Sister Ruth In Whose Ron 9/11 Died Clifford, Attacks
A Corkman who survived the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001 only to be subsequently told that his sister and young niece had died in the incident has died.
Ron Clifford, who was in his late 60s, died at his home in the US at the weekend.
He lost his sister Ruth Clifford McCourt, 44, and her daughter, Juliana, 4, on September 11, 2001 when their flight from Boston to Los Angeles hit the World Trade Center. In a remarkable coincidence, Ron was in the Twin Towers at the time of the attack but survived.
Ms Clifford McCourt and her daughter were on a surprise trip to Disneyland when their lives were prematurely cut short.
They were passengers on board the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 which was flown into the south tower of the World Trade Center.
Juliana’s godmother, Paige Farley Hackel, was on the second aircraft , American Airlines Flight 11, which smashed into the other tower.
Ron Clifford was on his way to a business meeting in the Twin Towers at the time of the attack. He was on the groundfloor when Ms Farley Hackel’s flight hit the building.
Despite being hit by falling debris, he helped to drag a badly injured woman to shelter.
In September 2021 Ron Clifford gave an interview to the newspaper in which he said that it was still hard to even think about what occurred on the day of the terrorist attack. “You wish that Ruth and Juliana were still here. David [Ruth’s husband] is gone now too and that family is now all gone.”
Ron said that he felt completely overwhelmed by what was then the 20th anniversary of the attack. He expressed his gratitude for the many good wishes he had received from people across the world as they marked two decades of loss in his family.
Meanwhile, Ruth Clifford McCourt, who was from Ballintemple in Cork, is buried with her daughter Juliana at St Finbarr’s Cemetery in Glasheen in Cork City. In 2013 the husband of Ruth and father of Juliana, David McCourt, was laid to rest in the same cemetery following his death.
Juliana was one of eight children killed by terrorists in co- ordinated plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington DC.
Mother and daughter were among 2,996 people killed in the incident. A third hijacked plane went down in a field in Pennysylvania as passengers fought back against the terrorists.