I recently came across a TikTok about women who were pregnant when they were killed in the 9/11 attacks. One name in particular caught my attention, Rahma Salie (Theodoridis-Salie after marriage) and I had an urge to Google her name.

Immediately from her wedding pictures, I noticed she was wearing a Sri Lankan-style sari. Then, the website 9/11 Living Memorial confirmed she was of Sri Lankan descent and was raised in Japan.

Rahma was 28 years old and seven months pregnant with her first child when she and her husband, Michael Theodoridis, boarded American Airlines Flight 11 on the morning of September 11, 2001. They were travelling from Boston to Los Angeles to attend the wedding of one of Rahma’s friends.

Rahma, Michael, and their unborn child were killed when Flight 11 was hijacked and flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Despite her Sri Lankan heritage, Rahma doesn’t appear to be widely remembered as a Sri Lankan victim of 9/11. Both Rahma and Michael have been described in US court documents as non-US nationals, and Sri Lanka does not appear on lists of nationalities of those killed in the attacks.

There may also be a simple reason why her Sri Lankan connection is difficult to find online. “Sri Lankan” is often spelled as “Sri Lanken”, so searching for Sri Lankan victims of 9/11 doesn’t necessarily lead to Rahma’s story unless you search her full name.

For the 25th anniversary of 9/11, The Boston Globe spoke go Rahma’s mother, Haleema Salie about her daughter, their Muslim faith, and their life following the attacks (I’ve shared screenshots from the article as it’s behind a paywall).

Today, Rahma and her unborn child, along with her husband, Michael are memorialised together at the National September 11 Memorial in New York - their names are inscribed on Panel N-1 of the North Pool.

The only known 9/11 victim of Sri Lankan descent