More 9/11 victims bones found

MORE bones believed to belong to September 11 World Trade Centre victims were found as New York continued searching underground areas that were apparently overlooked during the excavation years ago.

However, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there is no reason for anyone to be embarrassed following the discovery and stressed that construction at the site would not stop.

Mr Bloomberg’s comments came a day after 18 new pieces were found, and officials said they have yet to unearth more than half the underground sites apparently overlooked during the initial search for human remains in the area of the attacks.

The new finds added to a total cache ranging from tiny fragments to recognisable bones from skulls, torsos, feet and hands, the medical examiner’s office said.

Families of the 2,749 victims, 40% of whom still have no identifiable remains, have been outraged by the horrific discovery of the underground tombs where the bones and fragments were found.

They are calling for federal intervention, have demanded answers about why the search was incomplete and want construction halted until the recovery is complete.

But Mr Bloomberg reiterated that construction would not stop and said the city has “every reason to be phenomenally proud” of those who carried out the initial recovery in 2002, where nearly 20,000 pieces of human remains were recovered.

“There’s no reason for anybody to be embarrassed — it was a very big job. And just the reality of it is, there will always be more places you could have gone,” he said.

Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler, who is overseeing the recovery effort, said that search officials had identified additional manholes and utility cavities that need to be examined.

The team of searchers, which includes police and fire officials and forensic anthropologists from the medical examiner’s office, expects to burrow into at least 12 subterranean areas in coming days. About five have been excavated.

“They will go through every grain, every piece of material carefully, and sift through it,” Skyler said.