N.Y. to search again for 9/11 remains

NEW YORK -- The city said Friday that it will search parts of theWorld Trade Center site again for remains of the Sept. 11 dead afterseveral bones were pulled out of an abandoned manhole -- a discoverythat stirred up new fury and disbelief among victims' families.

The family members demanded that construction stop at ground zerountil remains of all their loved ones are recovered. They also calledfor state and federal investigations into the failure to completelyremove remains from ground zero.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called an emergency meeting at City Hallthat included police, fire officials and the city medical examinerafter the discovery of bones Thursday in a manhole in the 16-acresite. Remains as big as arm or leg bones were found, along withpersonal effects including at least one wallet, officials said.

The meeting yielded a plan that would have utility companies thatare inspecting manhole and utility areas be accompanied by staff fromthe police and fire departments and the medical examiner's office.

City officials will also analyze underground areas at the site tosee whether there could be places that weren't searched or need to besearched again.

"We'll go out and look at other manholes and other things,"Bloomberg said.

At ground zero Friday, in an area far from where contractorsdiscovered the bones a day earlier, people in hooded white suits wentin and out of a white tent next to a police van and a garbage bin.

Police and forensics experts were digging through dirt and othermaterial pulled from the manhole in search for more remains, said anofficial who spoke on condition of anonymity because of instructionsnot to speak publicly about the matter.

The discovery of bones angered family members, who want answersabout why remains are still turning up five years after the attacks.The families said officials rushed to clean the site of steel andother debris without bringing in experts to look for remains.

Diane Horning said that part of her son's body was located morethan four years ago not far from where the bones were pulled from themanhole.

"Oh my God, is that more of Matthew?" she said Friday of thelatest discovery. "But it's been sitting there for over five years."

Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch told The Associated Press ashe headed inside for the meeting, "We've been in touch with thefamilies and expressed our concern."

Construction work on the Sept. 11 memorial, the 1,776-foot FreedomTower and a transit hub continued without interruption Friday, saidSteve Coleman, a spokesman for the site's owner, the Port Authorityof New York and New Jersey.

Construction workers assigned to the transit hub found the remainsin the manhole.

A Consolidated Edison crew had excavated the manhole earlier inthe week. The debris it initially removed from a vacuum-like machinehas been sent to the city medical examiner's office, officials said.

The remains of the 2,749 killed -- 40 percent of whom have not yetbeen identified -- are likely "in ground zero, under ground zero andcertainly on the buildings surrounding ground zero," said SallyRegenhard, whose firefighter son was killed on Sept. 11.

More than 750 bone fragments have been removed in the past yearfrom a vacant skyscraper that the south tower collapsed into. Cleanuphas not begun at another damaged building on the site's outskirts.

In all, some 20,000 pieces of human remains have been found, butthe DNA in thousands of the fragments -- some just slivers of bone --was too damaged to yield matches to victims.

When forensic scientists exhausted available processes to identifythose remains, the city told families last year that the project wastaking a break, perhaps for years, until new DNA technology could bedeveloped.

But last month, Hirsch said that new methods had been created by aVirginia company that works on Sept. 11 bone fragments, and that newidentifications were likely.

Contributing: Tom Hays.

N.Y. to search again for 9/11 remains

NEW YORK -- The city said Friday that it will search parts of theWorld Trade Center site again for remains of the Sept. 11 dead afterseveral bones were pulled out of an abandoned manhole -- a discoverythat stirred up new fury and disbelief among victims' families.

The family members demanded that construction stop at ground zerountil remains of all their loved ones are recovered. They also calledfor state and federal investigations into the failure to completelyremove remains from ground zero.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called an emergency meeting at City Hallthat included police, fire officials and the city medical examinerafter the discovery of bones Thursday in a manhole in the 16-acresite. Remains as big as arm or leg bones were found, along withpersonal effects including at least one wallet, officials said.

The meeting yielded a plan that would have utility companies thatare inspecting manhole and utility areas be accompanied by staff fromthe police and fire departments and the medical examiner's office.

City officials will also analyze underground areas at the site tosee whether there could be places that weren't searched or need to besearched again.

"We'll go out and look at other manholes and other things,"Bloomberg said.

At ground zero Friday, in an area far from where contractorsdiscovered the bones a day earlier, people in hooded white suits wentin and out of a white tent next to a police van and a garbage bin.

Police and forensics experts were digging through dirt and othermaterial pulled from the manhole in search for more remains, said anofficial who spoke on condition of anonymity because of instructionsnot to speak publicly about the matter.

The discovery of bones angered family members, who want answersabout why remains are still turning up five years after the attacks.The families said officials rushed to clean the site of steel andother debris without bringing in experts to look for remains.

Diane Horning said that part of her son's body was located morethan four years ago not far from where the bones were pulled from themanhole.

"Oh my God, is that more of Matthew?" she said Friday of thelatest discovery. "But it's been sitting there for over five years."

Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch told The Associated Press ashe headed inside for the meeting, "We've been in touch with thefamilies and expressed our concern."

Construction work on the Sept. 11 memorial, the 1,776-foot FreedomTower and a transit hub continued without interruption Friday, saidSteve Coleman, a spokesman for the site's owner, the Port Authorityof New York and New Jersey.

Construction workers assigned to the transit hub found the remainsin the manhole.

A Consolidated Edison crew had excavated the manhole earlier inthe week. The debris it initially removed from a vacuum-like machinehas been sent to the city medical examiner's office, officials said.

The remains of the 2,749 killed -- 40 percent of whom have not yetbeen identified -- are likely "in ground zero, under ground zero andcertainly on the buildings surrounding ground zero," said SallyRegenhard, whose firefighter son was killed on Sept. 11.

More than 750 bone fragments have been removed in the past yearfrom a vacant skyscraper that the south tower collapsed into. Cleanuphas not begun at another damaged building on the site's outskirts.

In all, some 20,000 pieces of human remains have been found, butthe DNA in thousands of the fragments -- some just slivers of bone --was too damaged to yield matches to victims.

When forensic scientists exhausted available processes to identifythose remains, the city told families last year that the project wastaking a break, perhaps for years, until new DNA technology could bedeveloped.

But last month, Hirsch said that new methods had been created by aVirginia company that works on Sept. 11 bone fragments, and that newidentifications were likely.

Contributing: Tom Hays.