More Ground Zero victims identified

NEW DNA testing has identified human remains recovered years ago from the World Trade Centre wreckage to be those of a flight attendant and passenger from American Airlines Flight 11, the first hijacked plane to crash into a tower on September 11 2001.

Remains of a third victim have also been identified, but his family asked that his name not be released, the city’s medical examiner’s office announced.

The newly-identified remains had been held by the medical examiner’s office for years, but even now, human bones are still being found at the site as construction begins at Ground Zero on the planned Freedom Tower.

New York City plans to hire up to 10 more forensic anthropologists to join the effort to find and identify additional human remains, a project that could stretch well into next year, deputy mayor Ed Skyler said.

But some victims’ families say it still is not enough. They rallied at the site yesterday to call for government intervention and an expanded search for remains at the site.

The families of about 40% of the more than 2,700 killed in the attack have yet to receive any remains identified by DNA.

The current search was prompted by the discovery last month of hundreds of pieces of human bone in an abandoned manhole near Ground Zero.

The newly-identified remains belong to flight attendant Karen Martin from Massachusetts; Douglas Stone from New Hampshire, and another man, said Ellen Borakove of the medical examiner’s office.

Identification came after the families submitted additional DNA samples to the medical examiner’s lab.