9/11 memorial plans scrapped

Plans to entomb the unidentified remains of victims of the 9/11 attacks at the heart of the World Trade Center memorial have been ditched, it was reported today.

Instead, thousands of body parts will be kept in a climate-controlled room about 35 feet east of the special chamber where relatives will be able to mourn their loved ones, The New York Times said.

The change in plan means the remains will be easily removable for DNA testing, while family members will be able to see into the room where the containers are kept.

The 30-foot-square stone vessel in which the remains were to have been housed, which will stand 9 feet high in the centre of the change, will be purely symbolic.

Michael Arad, one of the memorial’s architects, told the newspaper the role of the vessel and surrounding rooms had evolved.

“We’re not burying the remains,” he said.

“They have to be kept for future identification. We’re essentially keeping them in medically controlled conditions.”

He added that the medical examiner had told him “many family members wanted to see where the remains were, how they were being stored”.

He said of the monolithic vessel itself: “It provides a touchstone, a centre, something that people can gather around.”

But Diane Horning, the president of WTC Families for Proper Burial, said she did not see the point.

“Our loved ones aren’t symbolically dead,” she said, speaking in a personal capacity.

“But everything that’s been given to us is symbolic.”