The dust-covered 9/11 survivor whose photograph
became one of the defining images of the terror attacks has died after a battle with stomach cancer at the age of 42.
Marcy Borders then 28 became known as the "dust lady" after a photo showed her covered in dust as she escaped the World Trade Center during the attacks.
In a Facebook post Monday, Borders' brother Michael Borders wrote: "I can't believe my sister is gone,"The Jersey Journalreported.
On 11 September 2001, Ms Borders was just one month into a new job at Bank of America on the 81st floor of the World Trade Center north tower when al-Qaeda-linked terrorists slammed two of four hijacked planes into the Twin Towers.
"The building started quaking and swaying. I lost all control, and I went into frenzy. I fought my way out of that place," she told the Daily Mail in 2011.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks
Mr Honda recalled the moment in a post on Facebookon the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
"A woman came in completely covered in grey dust. You could tell she was nicely dressed for work and for a second she stood in the lobby. I took one shot of her before the police officer started to direct people up a set of stairs, thinking it would be safer off the ground level."
Ms Borders, who was from New Jersey, was not aware she had been photographed until her mother saw the image the following day and contacted Mr Honda.
In the years after the attacks, as her picture became one of those most iconic images of the day, Ms Borders suffered from severe depression and drug addiction and lost custody of her two children.
"I didn't do a day's work in nearly 10 years and by 2011 I was a complete mess," she told The New York Post in the same year. "Every time I saw an aircraft, I panicked."
The newspaper said that the mother of two, from Bayonne, N.J., was diagnosed with stomach cancer in August 2014.
In November that year, Borders told the paper: "I'm saying to myself 'did this thing (9/11) ignite cancer cells in me? I definitely believe it because I haven't had any illnesses. I don't have high blood pressure...high cholesterol, diabetes."
She blamed her cancer on inhaling dust during the attack and suffered from alcoholism and anxiety in later years.
In a post on Twitter, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wrote: "Marcy Borders' passing is a difficult reminder of the tragedy our city suffered nearly 14 years ago. NYC holds her loved ones in our hearts.
Ms Borders' daughter Noelle told the New York Post on Wednesday her mother "fought an amazing battle".
"Not only is she the 'Dust Lady' but she is my hero and she will forever live through me," she said.
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