Ground Zero human remains won't halt construction

Story Highlights

• NYC Mayor Bloomberg: Construction area "thoroughly gone through"
• AP: Searches expected in 12 subterranean areas in coming days
• 18 pieces of human remains found Sunday; Arm, leg bones, found Thursday
• Outraged protesters allege mishandling, demand exhaustive search

From Chris Kokenes and Deborah Brunswick
CNN

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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Construction at the World Trade Center site will continue despite discovery nearby of apparent remains of 9/11 victims, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday.

After the remains were found Thursday and Sunday, angry family members of victims demanded that officials halt construction on the Freedom Tower and begin intensive searches.

Bloomberg said the site where construction is occurring has "been thoroughly gone through and excavated" and operations would not be shut down. (Watch mayor on 9/11 heroes, tragic nature of undiscovered remains -- 1:43)

The Medical Examiner's office said 18 pieces of human remains were found Sunday; other human remains discovered last week in a manhole at a work site in lower Manhattan had led to the further searches.

"I think the reasons that these [remains] weren't discovered before was that these are not functioning manholes or service boxes," Bloomberg said. "They were abandoned a long time ago, and when they were covered I just assume people said, 'Oh, there's nothing in there,' and didn't go in. But you have to remember that this was a massive cleanup."

"It's tragic that a handful of places were apparently not cleaned or scrutinized as well as they should have been," Bloomberg said. "But remember, the fire department, who cares perhaps more than any group, did go through almost all these buildings." (Watch why victims' families are "sick, disgusted and outraged" -- 2:40)

Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said most of the 12 subterranean locations being searched had not been entered since the attacks.

"They will go through every grain, every piece of material carefully and sift through it," he promised.

Searchers expect to burrow into at least 12 subterranean areas in coming days, according to The Associated Press. About five have been excavated, AP reported.

The underground pockets are located along the western edge of the 16-acre lower Manhattan site, underneath a service road built in March of 2002 to free up traffic on a major thruway that had been closed since the attacks, according to AP.

However, some below-ground cavities that had been used for utility and infrastructure purposes were paved over without being searched for remains, AP reported.

The Freedom Tower -- a 1,776-foot skyscraper -- is expected to be erected on the northern end of the trade center site and occupied by 2010.

Protest group calls for construction halt

On Friday, members of World Trade Center Families for Proper Burial protested what they said was the government's mishandling of remains.

They have called for a halt to all construction in the area and a renewed, more exhaustive search for remains.

"We ask that construction at Ground Zero come to a halt," said Rosaleen Tallon, whose brother Sean Tallon died in the attacks five years ago.

"These are all moms. I'm a mom, I've got a 2-year-old, and I've got a 4-year-old, and their bones, and their teeth, and their hair, and their skin, and their eyeballs are all precious to me. You couldn't put a price on that. And as human beings, we should not put a price on it."

Another family member of a 9/11 victim told AP that the grim discovery sends a message. "Their actions say remains are not a priority, they're secondary to the rebuilding," said Charles Wolf, who told AP he lost his wife and has never received any of her identified remains. "This is bringing up all the gnawing, gut-wrenching stuff inside us again," he said to AP.

Sally Regenhard lost her firefighter son during the attacks. "My son gave his life for this city -- for the state of New York and for the city of New York," she said. "He went into the Port Authority property, which was immune and exempt from all the building and fire codes. He went into a death trap and now these agencies, these governmental entities say that my son cannot be found. To this day, I have not found one single iota of my son."

Last week, Bloomberg met with city and state agencies at City Hall to discuss the renewed search for remains of the victims of the attacks.

The Department of Design and Construction and the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center are leading the effort to review underground areas that were searched during the initial 9/11 recovery effort and to identify additional areas, if any, that weren't searched and from which human remains could be recovered, the mayor's office said in a written statement.

The discovery of more remains was made Thursday by Phoenix Contractors, a firm hired by the city to clean sludge from underground drains under the corner of West Street and Vesey Street, officials said. (Full story)

Workers found the bones as they sifted through debris removed from pipes.

Later, additional remains were discovered at a Con Ed facility, where sludge from the site had been taken the previous day, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The remains, some as large as arm or leg bones, were turned over to the medical examiner's office.

Earlier this year, nearly 300 other human bone fragments -- typically smaller than an inch -- were found atop a 41-story building near the World Trade Center site that had been badly damaged in the attacks.

No remains have been identified for more than 1,150 of the 2,749 people killed in the New York attacks.

CNN's Ekin Nasuhogullari and Jennifer Rizzo contributed this report.