Read the original interview in French here.

LePetitJournal.com: Where were you on September 11, 2001?

Benoit Clair: I was returning from a vacation in France when my Northwest Airlines flight was diverted in the middle of the Atlantic after U.S. airspace was suddenly closed to all air traffic—something that had never happened before in aviation history. You have to remember that there were no phones—or Internet!—on board at the time, so we knew absolutely nothing. I was only able to speak with the captain, who told me that a plane had struck Tower 1 before making me promise not to say anything to the other passengers so as not to cause panic.

The plane turned around, and three hours later I landed at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, where, stunned, I watched the collapse of the Twin Towers on giant television screens. Only then did I understand the scale and gravity of the attacks. I spent the entire night awake at the Pulitzer Hotel, on the phone trying to reach people I knew in New York and gather their accounts. I flew back to the U.S. two days later, on September 13, as soon as air traffic resumed, and was stationed at Ground Zero for numerous reports, as radio and television stations around the world were, of course, in nonstop breaking-news mode throughout the long weeks that followed. Without question, it was the most defining event of my entire journalistic career. What I did not know then was that it would also profoundly alter the course of my personal life.

LePetitJournal.com: New York health authorities downplayed the consequences of the fires, which continued to burn for more than eight months after the attacks. Why are cancer cases surging today?

Benoit Clair: I remember very clearly the statements made by New York health authorities at the time, telling us: “The air is safe to breathe and no one is at risk!” I never believed that for a single second. Yet thousands of people worked for weeks and months afterward in an environment saturated with toxins: asbestos, fiberglass, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, concrete dust, jet fuel—a combination unlike anything seen in any other event in modern history. Most of the 73 types of environmentally linked cancers identified today take a long time to develop following exposure, and we are now entering the period when diagnoses are surging, because the first responders of 2001 are now between 50 and 70 years old, an age when cancers are more likely to emerge.

Sadly, however, they are not the only population affected. Cases of uterine cancer, passed from mothers to daughters, are also increasing, and unfortunately it is no longer unusual to see young women of 30 or 35 being treated for the disease today.

LePetitJournal.com: This year, there will be a new moment of silence for the collateral victims of 9/11. For you, is this recognition somewhat overdue?

Benoit Clair: Yes. For the first time, this year’s official September 11 ceremony will include a seventh moment of silence, dedicated to the victims of illnesses linked to the aftermath of the attacks. It is a symbolic gesture, but one that I believe is essential for grieving families. At the time, the woman who would become my wife a few months later was working as a vice president at a private bank located in one of the Twin Towers. She happened to be traveling abroad on September 11 and therefore miraculously escaped the attacks. But 658 of her colleagues lost their lives when American Airlines Flight 11 struck their offices, located between the 101st and 105th floors of Tower 1, at 8:46 a.m.

She was later exposed to the carcinogenic fumes that we had been told were harmless... and she, too, died from their effects, 21 years after her colleagues. For nearly four years, I therefore experienced from the inside something few journalists could ever have imagined: watching courageous but powerless surgeons spend seven or eight consecutive hours operating, almost one patient after another, on dozens of cancers with inevitably grim prognoses. I walked through hospital wards overwhelmed by cases, each more heartbreaking than the last. I also spent a great deal of time with healthcare workers whose humanity was extraordinary, as was their resilience in the face of death, day after day. They have my eternal gratitude.

LePetitJournal.com: How did you emerge from that chaos?

Benoit Clair: It wasn’t easy every day—particularly for those close to me, who sometimes had to endure my long periods of despair and anger toward the terrorists responsible for these attacks. But with strong, steadfast friendships and two wonderful children, you do come through it. A little—or a lot—battered, certainly, but you come through it. Today, I volunteer with a New York City law firm that is trying to locate foreign journalists and technicians who were working at the site for radio and television stations at the time and who were also exposed. I have already found several of them.

The federal government has allocated funding to provide them with the medical assistance they may need. More than $19 billion has already been devoted over 25 years to compensating victims and their families, including $2 billion in 2025 alone. That figure will inevitably rise, as there are more people suffering from these illnesses today than there were yesterday. For them, the compensation fund will remain open until September 30, 2090.

This 25th anniversary, therefore, is no longer simply a tribute to the victims of 2001 for me. It is also the recognition of an unprecedented public health crisis that continues relentlessly, year after year. September 11 is no longer simply an event from the past. It is a tragedy that continues into the present—and one that will, unfortunately, continue to shape America’s future for generations to come.

Au-delà des étoiles: Benoit Clair’s Powerful Novel About the 9/11 Attacks

After witnessing the September 11, 2001 attacks firsthand in New York, veteran reporter Benjamin de Tourreau has no idea that the tragedy will follow him for more than 20 years. In a powerful, gripping novel, Benoit Clair takes us into the Manhattan of the early 2000s, an era when carefree excess and Wall Street money flowed freely—until that fateful day, September 11. Beyond its plot, the author delivers a powerful account in which love, compassion and resilience find their rightful place, carrying readers toward an unexpected yet ultimately happy ending.

Published by BBC Group — Distributed by Amazon — $24.99. Available in English and French on September 21, 2026.