Exclusive | Touching new tribute to be added to annual 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero

The steadily growing number of people who succumbed to 9/11-related illnesses will finally get their moment in history.The 9/11 Memorial & Museum will for the first time include a bell toll and moment of silence in its emotional annual tribute to the fallen to honor the thousands of first responders, rescue workers and residents who lost their lives in the aftermath of the terror attack, The Post has learned.“This seventh toll of the bell represents past, present and future,” said John Feal, a 9/11 survivor and advocate for those battling illnesses related to the attacks.“You got those who lost loved ones that day,” said Feal, a demolition specialist who worked on the Pile.“You got people who lost loved ones over the last 25 years.You got people who are suffering now.

You got people who are going to die in the future.I think all of these groups collectively will embrace that seventh moment of silence.

“I know I will.”The museum’s televised yearly memorial service at the base of Ground Zero has previously included six bell tolls accompanied by moments of silence to coincide with the exact times that the Pentagon and each of the two World Trade Center towers were struck by hijacked planes, when the towers fell and as Flt.93 crashed in Pennsylvania.The new seventh toll and moment of silence — to be introduced on the 25th anniversary of the attacks thiis fall — will not be tied to a specific time.Instead, the moment will be marked at the conclusion of the reading of the names of those killed that day and will then be a permanent part of the annual ceremony moving forward, the memorial and museum announced.The attacks killed 2,977 people on 9/11, but countless others have died in the two decades since from breathing in asbestos, pulverized concrete and other carcinogens left from the attacks — including 360 FDNY heroes.

There are currently 143,340 survivors — including 88,014 responders — enrolled in the World Trade Center Health program...