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"Shocking and humbling" - that's how student Naimul Shah has summed up his visit to the National September 11 Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center.

Final-year , and students gained valuable academic insight from the experience - one of the first organised activities of the #º£½ÇÉçÇøglobal trip to New York.

The museum honours the almost 3,000 victims, those who risked their lives to save others and survivors of the co-ordinated attacks on 11 September 2001.

The main purpose of the students' visit was to find about the health effects of the pollution caused by the attacks, but they also came away with greater understanding of the consequences of terrorism on individuals and the community.

Naimul, who studies , said: "It's eye-opening. We all know about the attacks but to see how it has affected people up-close is shocking and humbling."

Ruksar Abdala, a student, found the visit "upsetting but helpful".

"It shows all the impact that 9/11 has had on people and I think everyone should experience this," she said.

Dr Simon Oldroyd, Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences, said the decision to visit the site of the Twin Towers was important for students who are looking at the health effects of pollution in New York.

"We've come here because we're particularly interested in the health effects of the pollution formed actually on the day of the 9/11 attacks."

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Many of the students are too young to remember much of what happened on the day of the attacks. The museum, located within the archaeological heart of the World Trade Center site, tells the story through multimedia displays, archives, narratives and artefacts.

student Mohammed Ali said he now understands what people went through.

He said: "It's really hard to see how they've struggled and how much hard work they actually had to do to help people, to save people."

Jade Bolton thinks it's important to understand what went on and what could potentially happen in the future.

She also had a more personal reason for joining the trip. The student added: "My mum was actually here three weeks after it happened, so I think it's really important and exciting for me to see what they've managed to turn the mess she saw and the way she felt into something we can maybe enjoy, learn from and get some memories from."