Officials load the plane part that was discovered wedged between buildings at Ground Zero onto a truck today. (AP)
No human remains were found in the alley where a 9/11 plane part was found last week, officials said today.
Investigators had been scouring the tiny space behind 51 Park Place where a chunk of wing flap, from one of the hijacked airplanes that crashed into the twin towers, had been discovered.
The stunning find prompted authorities to take a new look at that space, in hopes of finding human remains.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner “has concluded the inspection at 51 Park Place,” a spokeswoman for the forensic medical agency said this morning.
“All sifting operations have been completed,” the rep said. “No potential human remains have been recovered.”
Nearly 3,000 New Yorkers were killed when hijacked airplanes crashed into towers on Sept. 11, 2001. But remains of hundreds of victims were never found, so authorities were hopeful some body parts could be recovered.
With the human-remain search complete, cops delicately removed the plane part this morning.
They hoisted the 250-pound three-foot-by-five-foot chunk, using a series of pulleys, into a nearby courtyard.
“It’s a piece of history and we tried to preserve it as best we could,” said NYPD Deputy Chief William Aubry.
“We tried not to cut it, to not to change it in any fashion so that we could get it out the same way we discovered it. And we were able to do that.”
Aubry said this morning’s task was an emotional assignment for Emergency Service Unit officers.
“It’s a pretty eerie feeling, knowing that we’re sitting here 11 years later removing that part,” Aubry said.
“I think we all felt emotion. Some of these ESU personnel were here 11 years ago trying to save lives.”
Neighbors said today that the plane part’s discovery reminded them of the terror they felt 11 ½ years ago.
“It feels like closure somewhat,” said Mike Picciotto Jr. 36, a video technician from Bayonne who works in the neighborhood.
“This was like a burial, the way everybody was waiting for them [police] to bring it out, like it was a casket.”
Dominique George, 25, Fort Greene, a data technician said all the 9/11 memories have come rushing back.
“This is surreal. That [9/11] seems so long ago and for that [plane part] to be here all this time, it brings back memories,” she said.
“I was in class [at the time] and I could see [one of] the planes hit the building. My mother was working in this area. I was worried about her. This brought some of that back.”