City Promises to Search for More WTC Remains

With the surprise discovery of human remains in a manhole at Ground Zero on Thursday, the city said they would start a new search for remains of September 11 victims. The contractor who realized that the debris found on Thursday was human remains spoke to the Post:

"By the grace of God, I found the bones. I looked at what looked like bones, but it was muddy stuff. It might have been lumber. It turned out to be an arm bone and a leg bone."

Mayor Bloomberg said that city workers would "look at other manholes and other things." The Mayor defended previous search efforts, saying, “It’s an enormous area. And I think those that did the recovery effort, you know they did the best they could. You can’t be perfect, unfortunately, when something’s this big.” Mayor Bloomberg said that city workers would "look at other manholes and other things" and the city does expect to find more remains. Families of September 11 victims, though, would rather have trained experts do the searching. The families also think there are still remains at the Fresh Kills landfill, where much debris was sent after the attacks.

Attorney General and presumptive governor Eliot Spitzer's campaign spokeswoman said rebuilding shouldn't stop, though "workers should continue to be mindful of the possibility of finding remains and act accordingly."

Photograph of the NYPD Crime Scene Unit at the World Trade Center by Adam Rountree/AP