A man thought by his family to have been killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York has been found alive almost a year after the atrocity.
A Newark newspaper revealed yesterday that Mr George Sims (46), from Newark in New Jersey, was found earlier this month in a confused state in a New York psychiatric hospital.
His name had appeared on official lists of victims of the September 11th attacks after his family did not hear from him in the days following the slaughter and reported him missing.
No death certificate had been issued for the father of one, but as the September 11th anniversary approached his family had almost given up hope of ever seeing him again.
They had assumed he was killed in the attacks until they received a phone call from officials at a New York psychiatric unit saying they believed a patient there was in fact Mr Sims.
Staff requested a faxed photograph of Mr Sims and confirmed that their patient, diagnosed with amnesia and schizophrenia, was the man in the picture.
There followed something of a bitter-sweet reunion. "He's alive, but he's not in the best of health," his mother, Ms Anna Sims, told the Star-Ledger of Newark.
"When I saw him, he did not know me. He did not know his daughter. He did not know his brother," she said, adding that her son had been diagnosed with amnesia and schizophrenia.
She said she was hopeful that one day her son would recognise her again. "If God brought him this far back to me, he will come back the rest of the way," she said.
"It will take time. I am just grateful he is alive. God worked a miracle," she added.
No one knows for sure where Mr Sims was the day of the attacks or how he ended up at the hospital, but members of his family remain hopeful that he will eventually recover and tell them what happened.
They told the newspaper they believe he may have been "selling things" in the vicinity of the twin towers when the suicide bombers struck. They had not reported him missing until October 7th and gave no reason for not doing so earlier.
It is not clear what Mr Sims's mental condition was before the attacks.
This case illustrates why an exact death toll for September 11th may never be known.
Last week, the figure was revised down by four to 2,819, but New York officials said it is still being adjusted and is expected to be changed again this week. - (Guardian Service, AFP, PA)