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It took 100 days for the fires at Ground Zero to finally be extinguished.

Toxic, cancer-causing smoke and fumes hung over lower Manhattan for months.

New Yorkers described the acrid air as pungent and horrible.

SPECIAL COVERAGE: 9/11 twenty years on

READ MORE: Death toll could rise by millions from 'toxic' asbestos dust

Yet, incredibly, one week after the two hijacked planes brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, killing nearly 3000 people, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was telling New Yorkers "their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink".

More than 13,200 first responders and survivors have since been diagnosed with a variety of cancers, according to the World Trade Center Health Program.

And no wonder.

Dust from Ground Zero had many known carcinogens – soot, benzene, cement, asbestos, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins – which were released into the air of lower Manhattan with the collapse of the towers.

Marcy Borders, a 28-year-old Bank of America employee who worked on the 81^st floor of the North Tower, was dubbed "Dust Lady" after a haunting photograph of her, covered in white dust, was sent around the world on 9/11.

Fifteen years later, in 2015, she died aged just 42 after a year-long fight with stomach cancer.

For years Ms Borders had lived with fear over what the poisonous dust might have done to her body and health.

She had read the stories of first responders and others who had fallen sick and died, as medical evidence began to build a troublesome picture and trend.

At least 1880 first responders, survivors and workers who recovered bodies and cleaned up the wreckage have since died from illnesses which many attributed to their time at the site.

Those who arrived first on the scene received the greatest exposure to the toxic dust and smoke, and sustained the most severe health damage.

In the aftermath, men began to be diagnosed with rare breast cancers and prostate cancers at unusually young ages.

READ MORE: How one man escaped from the top of the World Trade Center

Leukemia, thyroid cancer, other cancers and chronic respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses were being diagnosed among the young and old, including residents and students who lived around Tribeca.

9News.com.au has plotted data from the World Trade Center Health Program, including the 15 most common cancers and other diseases and illnesses dating back to 2015.

There has been a notable increase across various cancers and diseases.

After tracking the health of 27,000 police officers, construction workers, firefighters, and municipal workers over the nine years following the September 11 attacks, researchers at The Mount Sinai Medical Center found substantial and persistent mental and physical health problems among 9/11 first responders and recovery workers.

The study found an increased risk of developing thyroid cancer, leukemia and prostate cancer, as well as a slightly elevated overall risk of cancer.

Lead author Moshe Shapiro of the Mount Sinai study stopped short of calling it an "epidemic of cancer" but said "there is evidence of increased risk for certain cancers among WTC-exposed responders".

READ MORE: What happened to the kids in famous 9/11 photo

READ MORE: The victims of the World Trade Center terror attacks

In 2015 Christine Todd Whitman, then head of the EPA, admitted for the first time that she had been wrong to tell New Yorkers there was nothing wrong with the air, in the days after the attack.

Ms Whitman denied she had been lying, when she said at the time: "I am glad to reassure the people of New York … that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink."

She told The Guardian she "cringed" every year the anniversary of the attacks rolled around.

"Because I know people will bring up my name, they blame me, they say that I lied and that people died because I lied, [they say] people have died because I made a mistake," she said.

"I'm very sorry that people are sick," she said. "I'm very sorry that people are dying and if the EPA and I in any way contributed to that, I'm sorry. We did the very best we could at the time with the knowledge we had."

In a 2003 the EPA's inspector general criticised the agency's handling of the crisis, saying it had no basis for its pronouncements about air quality in the days after the attacks.

GALLERY: Lost and found in the rubble of twin towers

Words: Mark Saunokonoko

Interactive graphics: Tara Blancato

Some 200 foreigners flew out of Afghanistan on an international commercial flight from Kabul airport overnight, the first such large-scale departure since US and foreign forces concluded their frantic withdrawal at the end of last month.

The Qatar Airways flight to Doha marked a significant breakthrough in the bumpy coordination between the US and Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers.

A dayslong stand-off over charter planes at another airport had left dozens of passengers stranded and cast doubt on Taliban assurances to allow foreigners and Afghans with proper travel documents to leave the country.

READ MORE: Australia withdraws from Afghanistan after evacuating thousands

A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to brief the media, provided the number of Westerners on board and said that two very senior Taliban officials had helped facilitate the departure. Americans, green card holders and other nationalities including Germans, Hungarians and Canadians were on the flight, the official said.

As Taliban authorities patrolled the tarmac, passengers presented their documents for checking, and sniffer dogs inspected luggage laid out on the ground. Some of the veteran airport workers had returned to their jobs after fleeing during the harrowing chaos of the US-led airlift.

Irfan Popalzai, 12, among those boarding the flight with his mother and five brothers and sisters, said his family lives in Maryland.

"I am an Afghan, but you know I am from America and I am so excited (to leave)," he said.

READ MORE: Taliban uses whips against women protesting all-male government

As the group prepared to board earlier, Qatari officials gathered on the tarmac of Kabul airport to announce the airport was ready for the resumption of international commercial flights after days of repairs. Extensive damage to the travel hub in the frenzied final days of the US airlift that evacuated over 100,000 people from the country had raised questions over how soon the transport hub could resume for regular commercial flights. Technical experts from Qatar and Turkey have been racing to restore operations.

"I can clearly say that this is a historic day in the history of Afghanistan as Kabul airport is now operational," said Qatari special envoy Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani.

"Call it what you want, a charter or a commercial flight, everyone has tickets and boarding passes," al-Qahtani added, noting that another commercial flight would take off on Friday. "Hopefully, life is becoming normal in Afghanistan."

The flight represents the first to depart from Kabul airport since American forces left the country at the end of August, their departure accompanied by a frantic airlift of tens of thousands of foreign citizens and Afghans fleeing the Taliban. The scenes of chaos, including Afghans plunging to their deaths after clinging to military aircraft that was taking off and a suicide bombing that killed 169 Afghans and 13 US service members, came to define the fraught end to America's two-decade war.

READ MORE: Afghanistan's new top cop has $6.7 million bounty on his head

A foreign diplomat, likewise speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to brief the media, said another 200 foreigners, including Americans, would depart in the next couple of days.

It remains uncertain what the resumption of international flights over the next few days will mean for the tens of thousands of Afghans desperate to flee Afghanistan's new Taliban leaders over fears of what their rule will hold.

Hundreds of other Afghans at risk after the Taliban takeover because of their past work with Americans have gathered for more than a week in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, waiting for permission to board privately chartered evacuation flights out of the country.

Although the Taliban assured the world they would let passengers with valid travel documents leave the country, many of those stranded at the northern airport did not have such papers.

READ MORE: Taliban say they have taken control of final Afghan province

A father and son who allegedly rented out stolen luxury cars to people linked with notorious Sydney crime figures have been charged.

Simon Khalil, 53, and his 24-year-old son Brendon Khalil were among five men sprung by detectives from the NSW Criminal Groups Squad.

The duo is accused of being part of a network supplying stolen high-performance cars to underworld figures including the feuding Hamzy and Alameddine crime families.

READ MORE: Arrest made over murder of Australian teacher on European hike

"They were effectively operating like a hire car company purely for profit," Detective Superintendent Grant Taylor said today.

At least nine stolen luxury cars have been seized, some modified at a Summer Hill workshop. Police allege they were used in the most violent of crimes.

"They were getting extraordinarily dark tinting on the cars and also the cloning of number plates that replicated legitimate number plates somewhere in Sydney," Mr Taylor said.

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Both father and son faced court today and were granted bail.

The defence argued both men merely helped tenants of the Summer Hill warehouse move vehicles to the location of where they were seized.

"The prosecution has to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, let's see if they do that," defence lawyer Sophie Toomey said.

Three others were also charged, one of them allegedly in possession of a loaded pistol linked to the shooting of a Westmead home last year.

Publicans in regional Victoria say they are outraged at the restrictions their businesses will be subject to from midnight, with some having decided it's not worth opening their doors.

Regional Victoria, excluding Greater Shepparton, will come out of lockdown at 11.59pm today, but businesses will be forced to comply with strict capacity limits.

Food and drink venues will be allowed to open for seated service but most will only be able to service a maximum of 10 customers indoor and 20 customers outdoor.

READ MORE: The restriction changes coming to regional Victoria

Mark Marantelli, the director of Bendigo's Shamrock Hotel, will open the venue but has said the business will barely make a cent.

The pub can serve up to 600 customers at the best of times, but will be limited to just 10 inside and 20 outside.

"It certainly doesn't work economically for us," Mr Marantelli said.

"We can't possibly open for food and have three to four people in the kitchen or behind the counter and have 10 people inside.

"It's very frustrating for the staff."

Andrew Lethlean runs fours venues in Bendigo but will not be opening any soon after lockdown lifts tonight.

"I got excited early and sent a text out to my staff to let them know we're open only to tell them two minutes later we're not opening because numbers are so restrictive," he said.

In Ballarat, the Aunty Jacks Brewery Restaurant won't open either, with management saying they would have to spend too much on staff for what they could earn.

Owner Brian Taylor said the previous limit of one customer per 4sq metre, with a maximum capacity of 100 "had been the bare minimum to break even, or to have it viable to trade".

READ MORE: Border restrictions leave elderly couple at risk of homelessness

However, Hotels Association Victoria President David Canny has said the limit will be enough for some regional venues to make a profit.

"This will suit some smaller pubs in the bush and some regional hotels that, it does allow them to open and welcome back their regulars," Mr Canny said.

Victoria Health Minister Martin Foley said the "cautious" restrictions were "hopefully a first step" to opening up further when the changes were announced.