‘Dust Lady’ from iconic 9/11 image dies of cancer aged 42

A WOMAN whose dust-covered image was one of the iconic pictures of survivors of the 9/11 attacks on New York’s twin towers, has died aged 42 of stomach cancer.

Macy Borders was photographed by professional Stan Honda as she emerged shocked from a stairway of the north tower into an adjacent building, her smart office suit and business-like hair smothered in a thick coating of dust.

Ms Borders was working at Bank of America on the 81st floor of the tower when the planes hit the buildings in 2001.

On the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Honda wrote of the moment he took the photo: “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 maintained that her cancer, which she had been fighting for a year, had been caused by the substances she ingested on that day.

Paying tribute in the New York Post on Wednesday, Ms Borders’ daughter Noelle said: “Not only is she the ‘Dust Lady’ but she is my hero and she will forever live through me.”