How unidentified remains of 9/11 victims are kept behind wall at Ground Zero as more than 1,000 killed STILL unknown
TWENTY years after the tragedy of 9/11, the remains of more than 1,000 victims still remain unidentified and lying in a repository behind a wall at the Ground Zero memorial.
On Tuesday, just days before the 20th anniversary of the terror attack, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) announced the .
Dorothy Morgan this week became the 1,646th person identified after DNA was confirmed in remains recovered in 2001.
A man whose family wished for him to remain anonymous was identified as the 1,647th victim after his DNA was confirmed in remains recovered in 2001, 2002, and 2006.
The announcement was welcomed as good news for two families struck by the 2001 disaster but also highlighted the ongoing battle to identify the at the World Trade Center (WTC).
There are still 1106 victims - 40 percent of the total death toll - whose remains have not been accounted for, as the OCME pushes science to its limits in an effort to help grieving families two decades on.
“Twenty years ago, we made a promise to the families of World Trade Center victims to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to identify their loved ones, and with these two new identifications, we continue to fulfill that sacred obligation,” Dr. Barbara A. Sampson, Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, said on Tuesday.
“No matter how much time passes since we will never forget, and we pledge to use all the tools at our disposal to make sure all those who were lost can be reunited with their families.”
The fight to identify all victims at the WTC has become the largest and most complex forensic investigation in the history of the United States, led by Mark Desire, assistant director of the OCME Department of Forensic Biology and manager of the World Trade Center DNA Identification Team.
And 20 laters later, he remains at the helm.
'COMMITMENT AS STRONG AS EVER'
“The commitment today is as strong as it was in 2001,” Desire said of his team.
“We continue to push the science out of necessity to make more identifications.”
There are also 30 DNA profiles identified in remains for which no family match has been found.
Desire said that it could be that families simply didn't give a reference sample or that no family is available.
"There are some families who accepted the family member is never coming home and didn’t want to be notified," he said.
"Anytime they don’t want to be notified, we will respect their wishes and the remains will be kept in the repository."
As for the future, the OCME does not know when the next identification will be but the commitment to help families continues.
"It gets very emotional," Desire said.
"It takes a special type of person to volunteer to be on my team, to be able to handle the emotional side.
"We were bloody and broken but we are able to use that experience to never give up," he added.
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"We will not give up on it, no matter how many times those samples fail.
"I'm proud of my agency and of my city."
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