The terrorists who crashed their hijacked planes into the World Trade Centre may not have been trying to send a message to Shanghai. But they sent one anyway.
Among the more than 4,900 people listed as missing is Shanghai native Michael Liming Gu, who was working in his office on the 95th floor of the north tower when American Airlines Flight 11 hit.
'We haven't heard anything,' his mother, Zhang Cai, said. 'There was so much smoke and fire. Who could survive that?'
Insurance company Marsh and McLennan has told the family that Gu, 34, is officially listed as missing. The company said 131 employees were listed as missing, with two confirmed dead.
The Gu family is hoping for a miracle, but time is not on their side. The last person to be pulled out of the twisted remains of the twin towers was found on Wednesday.
They quietly thumbed through a pile of family photographs, including one of Michael at his graduation from the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from the scene of the terrorist attack. On that fateful morning, Gu managed to call his wife, Liu Jin, and left a message on the answering machine. 'She couldn't hear what he was saying,' brother Kevin said. 'There was so much noise in the background. But it was him.' Shanghai newspapers have reported the attacks but details have been thin. 'Most of our information came over the phone,' his mother said. 'The phone hasn't stopped ringing.'