Part of 9/11 landing gear found near Ground Zero

USPA News - A piece of debris believed to be from one of the airliners that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001, has been discovered wedged between two buildings in lower Manhattan, police confirmed on late Friday evening. The debris was discovered at around 11 a.m. local time on Wednesday when surveyors hired by a property owner called 911 after they found what they assumed to be damaged machinery. Officers responded to the scene, which is behind the site of an Islamic community center, and eventually determined the debris was part of an airplane.

"The part includes a clearly visible Boeing identification number," said Paul J. Browne, Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). He said the airplane debris is wedged between the rear of 51 Park Place and the rear of the building behind it, 50 Murray Street. "The NYPD is securing the location as it would a crime scene, documenting it photographically and restricting access until the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner completes its health and safety evaluation protocol, after which a decision will be made concerning sifting the soil for possible human remains," Browne said. Authorities believe the debris is part of a landing gear, apparently from one of the commercial airliners that was deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center towers in September 2001. Detective Brian Sessa said it was not yet known whether the part belonged to Flight 11 or Flight 175. The debris was still in place on Saturday as officers continued to examine the scene, where the landing gear parts went unnoticed for over a decade. "The aircraft part will not be removed until the process is completed, at which point it will [be] secured by the NYPD Property Clerk," Browne added. The 9/11 attacks happened on Sept. 11, 2001, when nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes before crashing two of them into the World Trade Center in New York and another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth, United Flight 93, crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks, that caused both WTC towers to collapse.