9/11 remains returned to World Trade Center site

NEW YORK (AP) — The unidentified remains of those killed at the World Trade Center have returned to the World Trade Center site in a solemn procession on a foggy Saturday morning.

The remains were moved from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Manhattan’s East Side at dawn Saturday, accompanied by police and fire department vehicles with lights flashing but no sirens.

The remains will be transferred to an underground repository in the same building as the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

Like many decisions involving the site of the nation’s worst terrorist attack, the disposition of the unidentified remains has been contentious.

A group of victims’ family members who say the remains should be stored in an above-ground monument separate from the museum protested Saturday’s procession. About a dozen wore black bands over their mouths at the site Saturday.

“Don’t put them in the basement!” Rosemary Cain, who lost her firefighter son at the trade center, said Thursday. “Give them respect so 3,000 souls can rest in peace!”

Other family members support the plans, which have been in the works for years

The repository will be available for family visits but will be overseen by the medical examiner. Officials hope that improvements in technology will eventually lead to the identification of the 7,930 fragmentary remains.