US embassy remembers 9/11 victims

US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Patricia A. Butenis honoured the September 11, 2001 attack victims through an inter-faith memorial service at her residence.

Prayers were offered for the victims by an Anglican priest, a Buddhist monk, a Hindu priest, a Jewish rabbi, a Muslim imam and a Roman Catholic priest.

Ambassador Butenis spoke of the attacks in New York, Washington, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, which killed nearly 3,000 people from over 90 countries. She also noted that a Sri Lankan was among the victims.

“Rahma Salie was of Sri Lankan descent, raised in Japan and married to a Greek-American. She and her husband were flying to a wedding, and Rahma was seven months pregnant with their first child when their plane from Boston was hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Centre,” she said.

Ambassador Butenis also shared a message praising the resilience of the victims of terrorists both in the US and Sri Lanka.

“My deepest wish for Sri Lanka as a country is that it continues to embrace one of its traditional, essential core values, that of its multi-ethnic, multi-religious identity. That is its true strength and the country must be resilient enough to hold on to it,” she said. Distinguished guests present at the ceremony included External Affairs Ministry Director General for Europe, Americas and CIS, Himali Arunathilaka.