Immigrant of the Day: Mohammad Salman Hamdani – First Responder

[This popular feature of my blog has been on a long hiatus as I’ve gotten sidetracked with other writing projects. However, I’m pleased that my daughter Eden Siskind, who recently finished her master’s degree work in refugee studies at the London School of Economics, will be contributing to the Immigrant of the Day postings. Today is her debut with this timely contribution. We also generally make Immigrant of the Day about someone who is living, but we make an exception today.]

This week marked the 18th year since the tragic acts of 9/11. In honour of all of those who lost their lives, today’s immigrant of the day is Mohammad Salman Hamdani. Hamdani was a New York City Policeman and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). He was one of the first responders at the Twin Towers and died while trying to assist as an EMT.

Hamdani was born in Karachi, Pakistan and moved to the United States with his parents at the early age of 13 months. His mother taught English, and his father operated a convenience store in Brooklyn. After graduating from college, he worked as a research technician in the Protein/DNA Technology Center at Rockefeller University. He was on his way to work at Rockefeller University the morning of the attacks and saw smoke from the attacks. Instead of continuing to work, he used his EMT skills and bravery as a first responder to help those who were first hit in the attack. 

In honour of Mohammad’s bravery, the corner of 204th Street and 35th Avenue in Bayside was renamed “Salman Hamdani Way’.