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Construction to Continue around WTC

Friends and relatives of victims of the World Trade Center attack were angered by a decision taken by New York mayor Michael Bloomberg to continue construction around the WTC site, despite the fact that more human remains were found in manholes this week. In response, Bloomberg assured those upset by his decision that the area where construction is occurring has been thoroughly checked for any more human remains and all debris evacuated.

Nearly 40% of the 2749 victims who died on September 11th, 2001 when the two towers came crashing down, have never been identified. After a massive clean up of 1.5 tons of debris in 2002, the active search for human remains was officially called off, however, the accidental find of dozens of bones in an abandoned manhole this week brought on a new search for human remains. More than 100 bone fragments ? ranging less than an inch in size, to 12 inches long ? have been recovered this week.

Relatives of unidentified victims are demanding that a new federally led search begin, in order to rule out any sites that might have been overlooked in previous searches. After the remains were found on Thursday, family members demanded a halt on the construction of Freedom Tower. However, Bloomberg gave orders to resume construction after authorities combed the area for human remains.