Key role for Cork man in 9/11 trial

An Irish survivor of the 9/11 terror attacks, whose sister and niece were on one of the hijacked planes that were flown into the World Trade Center, is set to play a key role once the trial of five suspects gets underway.

Ron Clifford, originally from Cork, witnessed first-hand the devastation of the immediate aftermath of the terror attacks and narrowly survived the disaster when flaming wreckage fell onto the building plaza in front of him.

He later learned that his sister Ruth McCourt and her four-year-old daughter, Juliana, were passengers on board the second aircraft to crash into the Twin Towers.