Hopes rekindled over Ground Zero remains

Experts have predicted that human bones unearthed at the 9/11 Ground Zero are so well preserved that they will be able to be identified by DNA testing.

Some 200 pieces, including whole bones, shards and one-inch splinters, have now been found since an initial discovery in a paved-over manhole cover last week.

The news has brought fresh hopes and fears to those who lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre.

Of the families of the 2,749 people killed at the World Trade Centre, 40% have never received any identifiable remains.

Because the newly-discovered bones have been shielded from the elements they are likely to be better preserved, experts said.

“However they got there, it was certainly right at the time of the event, so they’ve been protected for five years and haven’t been subjected to weather,” the New York medical examiner’s lead forensic anthropologist on the site, Bradley Adams, said.

Ed Huffine, the scientist in charge of the project at Bode Technology Group, the Virginia company handling the remains, said: “I would be very optimistic about being able to obtain DNA profiles from these cases.”

Lynn Castrianno, whose brother Leonard died in the attacks, said she had mixed feelings about what news testing could bring.

“We’re all wondering again if we’re going to get that call,” she said.

“Obviously, I want to know if they find something, but on the other hand it just opens it all back up again.”