Heartbreaking reason 1,100 victims of 9/11 have yet to be identified

"The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) said that approximately 1,100 people who were in the World Trade Center still haven't had their remains confirmed because of insufficient DNA evidence. According to a former NYPD officer who spent several weeks in the pit recovering the remains, there is almost no chance all of the victims will ever be positively identified now or in the future."

"'Time and air have changed everything. I don't know if science would ever be able to find them all.' The 9/11 first responder noted that thousands of police officers, firefighters, and volunteers were working right in the middle of the smoldering debris for months, unintentionally contaminating the crime scene. On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked two planes and crashed them into New York's Twin Towers, causing the buildings to collapse and killing approximately 2,753 people."

"The Daily Mail source added the wind in downtown Manhattan blew away many faint traces of human remains, and the search was further complicated when much of the debris was moved to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island - roughly 15 miles away. 'You don't know how it was stored. It wasn't in a vacuum seal. To go back 20 years later, you're never going to recover everybody,' the NYPD veteran said."

The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) reported that roughly 1,100 people who were at the World Trade Center remain unconfirmed because DNA evidence is insufficient. A former NYPD officer who recovered remains said there is almost no chance all victims will ever be positively identified. Recoveries were hampered by severe degradation from fire, water, jet fuel, wind, and prolonged exposure, plus contamination from thousands of responders working in the debris. Much debris was transported to the Fresh Kills Landfill under non-ideal storage, further degrading samples. Advances in DNA analysis have not overcome loss of recoverable genetic material, leaving many families without closure.

Read at Mail Online