
The two American men killed alongside six foreign tourists in a terror attack in New York on Tuesday have been identified.

Darren Drake, 32, and Nicholas Cleves, 23, were both run over on the West Side Highway bike path in Manhattan's Tribeca shortly after 3pm.

Drake, a resident of New Milford, New Jersey, was on a break from work and was trying to keep fit by cycling between meetings.

His family said he was likely listening to an audio book through his headphones when he was hit and would not have heard the terrified screams of people behind him.

Cleves is a recent college graduate who lived in Manhattan. His relatives have been too distraught to speak about his death.

The men died alongside Belgian mother-of-two Ann-Laure Decadt, 31, and Argentinians Hernan Diego Mendoza-Espino, 47, Alegandro Damian Mendoza-Espino, 47, Herman Ferruchi, 47, Diego Enrique, 47 and Ariel Erlis, 48, New Jersey resident Darren Drake, 32, and Manhattan resident Nicholas Cleves, 23.

Terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov, 29, is now facing the death penalty after being charged with federal terrorism offenses on Wednesday.

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Darren Drake, 32, (left) Nicholas Cleves, 23, (right) were both run over on the West Side Highway in Manhattan's Tribeca shortly after 3pm on Tuesday

Twelve others were rushed to the hospital and three have since been released. The nine people who are still under doctors' care include one survivor who was forced to undergo a double amputation to survive.

Terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov, 29, remains in hospital after being shot in the stomach. He is answering police questions.

Belgian mother-of-two Ann-Laure Decadt, 31, died in hospital

On Wednesday, Drake's mother said he was in the 'wrong place at the wrong time'.

He was on an afternoon break from his job at Moody's Investors Services, where he worked as a project manager, when he decided to go for a bike ride to keep fit.

'He was riding his bike in between meetings — I guess he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

'He was trying to lose weight, trying to stay active. So he signed up for that CitiBike group … he was trying to do everything right. Trying to take care of himself,' Drake's devastated mother Barbara told The New York Post on Wednesday.

She said she hoped he was unaware of the terror surrounding him.

'I hope he was traveling south and he never saw what was coming. He had bruises on his face from where he hit the pavement,' she added.

Cleves' mother was too distraught to speak on Wednesday afternoon. A shop keeper near where he worked said he was a 'good' person.

'He’s absolutely lovely, he was a sweetheart, warm and friendly. He would come in every day. There are some people who are just good and he was,' they said.

Five members of this group of Argentinian friends were also killed. They are Hernán Diego Mendoza (far left), Alejandro Damián Pagnucco (second from left), Ariel Erlij (third from left), Diego Enrique Angelini (second from right) and Hernán Ferruchi (third from right). A sixth friend, Martin Ludovico Marro (not pictured), was injured

Drake's father Jimmy sobbed as he described his son as 'so smart'. Belgian native Decadt was in New York with her mother and two sisters.

Her husband Alexander Naessens told Belgium's HLN newspaper she was cycling on the path when Saipov mowed her down from behind in his rented Home Depot truck.

'She was a wonderful wife and the most beautiful mom of our two-month and three-year-old sons. The loss is unbearable and cannot be overcome,' he said.

Her mother and sisters were not hurt but three other Belgian tourists were injured in the attack, according to the country's Deputy Prime Minister.

The Argentinian victims were in a larger group of nine men who were all celebrating their 30th school reunion.

A sixth man in the group of Argentinians, Martin Ludovico Marro, was also hospitalized in the incident, which killed a total of eight people and injured 12.

Erlij, who runs a steel mill in Argentina, had paid out of his own pocket to ensure two of the members of the group could be there, local news reported.

Tributes poured in to Drake (left) and Cleves (right) who were both described by friends and relatives as 'good' people

Decadt's husband Alexander Naessens said she was a 'wonderful mother and wife'. The woman had two sons aged three and two-months. She died in hospital shortly after being rushed from the scene

The Argentine government confirmed Tuesday night that most of the group - all in the class of 1987 - had flown to New York for a school reunion.

Erlij, 48, who owned the Argentinian steel company Ivanar, had paid for flights for two of his friends so they could attend, according to Infobae.

On arriving in New York, the group was met by Marro, the man who was injured in the attack. Though born in Argentina, he is now a resident of Newton, Connecticut, Wicked Local reported.

All of them had graduated from a polytechnic college in the Argentinian city of Rosario and had been in the city several days when the incident occurred, according to Argentinian newspaper La Nacion.

On Tuesday the group had chosen to enjoy the pleasant, crisp fall afternoon by hiring Citibikes and following the leisurely bike path down West St, which runs alongside the Hudson River.

They were near Stuyvesant High School - at the tail end of the killer's rampage - when he struck them, Mateo Estrémé, Consul General of Argentina to the United Nations, told The New York Post.

'We are trying to figure out how to go on - especially the families,' he said. '[They] are completely lost about, well, being very far from their relatives. They don't know what to do.'

Erlij (left) ran a steel mill in his home country, and had paid for the flights of two of his friends. Pagnucco (right, believed to be pictured with his wife and children) was also killed

Angelini (left) was also killed in the attack, as was Mendoza (right). The other man slain in the incident was Hernán Ferruchi. A sixth victim, Argentinian expat Martin Ludovico Marro, was hospitalized

Alejandro Pagnucco (left) took this photograph of himself in New York and shared it with Facebook friends prior to his death. They remembered him as an 'excellent person' and 'a friend to all of us'. Martin Ludovico Marro (right) was injured but survived

And he said that even those that survived have been horribly scarred by the attack. 'They are devastated,' he said. 'They are still in shock because they cannot believe that this happened.'

In its statement, the Argentinian government said that Marro, 'is hospitalized at the Presbyterian Hospital of Manhattan recovering from injuries suffered [and is] out of danger'.

Marro's wife, Mariana Dagatti, who is also from Argentina, is now in New York with her husband, according to their friend, Newton City Councilor James Cote.

The pair had hosted a fundraiser for Cote, a Republican, last week, he said. He added that Marro is a scientist at the Novartis Institutes in Cambridge, while his wife is an architect, and that they have lived in Newton for about seven years.

The cyclists were hit as they traveled south along the bike path of the West Side Highway shortly after 3pm on Tuesday

Shattered bicycles are seen here on the West Side Highway bike path where the victims were hit on Tuesday afternoon

Tom Mountain, chairman of the Newton Republican City Committee, said the couple are 'kind, caring and wonderful people,' and said that the 'horror show' attack had left the committee 'absolutely stunned.'

Before his death, Pagnucco had shared a photograph of himself in New York with a Facebook group dedicated to the multiplayer war video game War Machines, in which he played as a tank commander with the nickname 'Janus'.

In a post on the group, one of its members remembered him as an 'excellent person [with] spotless conduct,' adding, 'you really are a friend to all of us and we're going to miss you... May you rest in peace for all eternity.'

The Argentinian government said in its statement: 'The consulate general continues working in permanent contact with the police authorities and the hospital that received the affected, as well as with the relatives in Argentina.

'We accompany the families in this terrible moment of deep pain, which all Argentines share.'

In the wake of the attack, Argentinian President Mauricio Macri tweeted: 'Profoundly moved by the tragic deaths this afternoon in NY. We place ourselves at the disposition of the families of the Argentinian victims.'

Sayfullo Saipov has been identified by police insiders as the man who ran down more than a dozen civilians in New York on Tuesday from Florida. He's said to be the man on the ground; the terrorist was shot in the stomach after leaving his truck