Thousands of parts of human remains still unidentified after the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the New York World Trade Center will be dried, sealed and stored in a memorial at the site now known as Ground Zero, officials said today.
The remains will be preserved so that if identification techniques improve they would be in usable condition to be identified, said Ms Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Over 12,000 remains, some as small as bone chips or teeth, are unidentified, mostly because the DNA used to identify bodies is badly damaged, the medical examiner's office said.
Of the 2,792 people killed in the attacks on the twin towers, the remains of 1,518 have been identified, Ms Borakove said. The unidentified remains are being dried and vacuum-sealed, she said. They will be stored in a memorial at the trade center site, she said.