The largest forensic investigation in US history is ongoing at the Office of the Medical Examiner in NYC, while ten scientists work full-time in the hopes of identifying all 2,749 World Trade Center victims’ remains.
The team has matched DNA of 1,639 victims and are considered pioneers, finding new techniques, including the ability to draw blood from bone fragments.
But 1,111 people killed in the attacks still have not had a DNA match.
Most remains found at the site were fragmented — roughly 22,000 pieces were recovered. DNA science matches them to one of the 2,749 people murdered at the site during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, report Stephanie Pagones and Max Jaeger of the NY Post.
Advances in science discovered through the search for World Trade Center victims have assisted other cities in identifying train wreck victims and some of the “disappeared” Argentinians who vanished in the 1970s, among others.
