WASHINGTON, May 17: Salman Hamdani had left his house in Queens as usual on the morning of Sept 11 to catch a commuter train to Manhattan, where he worked as a laboratory assistant. That was the last that was heard of him for over six months.

Then, his remains were discovered in the rubble of the Twin Towers. It is presumed that Hamdani, who had also received training as a medical aide, had seen the fire and smoke rising from the towers after the attack that morning, had gone to the scene, and volunteered to help. He must have got tragically caught up in the disaster and the collapse of the towers while trying to save lives.

The mother, Talat Hamdani, of this 23-year-old naturalized Pakistani is now to be honoured by the American Muslim Council (AMC) with an award named after Salman Hamdani.

Ms Hamdani told Dawn on the telephone from her home in Queens, New York, on Friday that she had already left for work on that September morning, and her husband, who runs a business in Brooklyn, was asleep when her son had left the house. He travelled daily by train to Manhattan.

Salman was declared missing — till the heart-breaking discovery of his identity card next to his remains six months later.

Ms Hamdani will receive the Salman Hamdani Award at the AMC’s 11th annual convention on June 27 in Alexandria, in the Washington suburbs.

“We don’t know how many people he helped, how many lives he saved,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly had told several hundred mourners at the Islamic Cultural Centre of New York, where he spoke shortly after Salman’s funeral. “But if you look at his life, you know he was determined to make a difference, and he did. He was indeed a hero.”