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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 371-06
October 20, 2006

STATEMENT BY DEPUTY MAYOR FOR ADMINISTRATION EDWARD SKYLER ON TODAY'S EMERGENCY INTERAGENCY MEETING REGARDING REMAINS AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE

"At Mayor Bloomberg's direction, today I convened a 90-minute meeting with a group of City and State agencies, the Port Authority, and private utilities to respond to yesterday's discovery of human remains at the World Trade Center site. Attending the meeting were Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd, Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Joe Bruno, Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center Director Charles Maikish, and high-ranking officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, State Department of Transportation, Battery Park City Authority, Verizon, Consolidated Edison and Empire City Subway.

"The meeting was very productive and we received excellent cooperation from all who attended.  We reviewed the events of the last 48 hours and determined that the established protocols had been followed. As a result of this meeting, several steps will be taken immediately.

"Con Ed and Verizon will inspect several other manholes and underground areas near West Street, and remove any material that may be found. Under a protocol reviewed today, the City's Medical Examiner will be on-site to carefully sift through any material recovered to identify any human remains. The Medical Examiner's forensic anthropologists will work closely with Police and Fire personnel, who will be on scene at all times. If any remains are found, they will be taken to the Medical Examiner's facility, as was the case with other victims of the 9/11 attacks. 

"Second, the Department of Design and Construction and the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center will lead an effort to review all underground areas that were searched during the 9/11 recovery effort and identify additional areas, if any, that weren't searched from which human remains could be recovered. They will get input and information from every City agency, State agency or authority, and private utility and report back to me in one week. From this review, we will create a schedule of additional areas to be searched, using the same protocol that is being implemented today.

"The recovery effort after 9/11 was one of our City's finest hours. We will continue to conduct this important work in the same dignified and caring manner as we did in the past, befitting those we lost and this great City."







MEDIA CONTACT:


Stu Loeser / Jason Post   (212) 788-2958




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