[Some] Families of victims of the September 11 terror attacks are calling for the remains housed under the World Trade Center to be moved amid reports of possible leaks in a slurry wall that keeps the waters of the Hudson River from flowing into the complex.
Jin Lee National September 11 Memorial Museum
The families said in a statement they want the remains to be moved from a below-ground area at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to an above-ground tomb after DNAinfo reported that an underground leak had been discovered in the massive 4-foot-thick wall.
“It is very upsetting for families to think that their loved ones’ remains would be the first items lost in the basement of the museum if water was to gush into the site,” the families said in the statement. “These remain fragments are so fragile that if they are damaged or lost, they are gone forever.”
DNAinfo reported that engineers began investigating the integrity of the wall after Port Authority workers began to hear the sound of rushing water in the lower concourses of the complex in the last two weeks.
The Port Authority, however, told NBC 4 New York on Wednesday that it routinely inspects the slurry wall, and that no leaks were found in an examination a few days ago.
A spokesman for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum also said there was no evidence of a leak in the slurry wall.
The slurry wall was built around the World Trade Center site in the 1960s, before the original office complex was constructed. It is credited with holding back water from seeping into ground zero after the towers fell.
A portion of the retaining wall can be seen in the September 11 Museum.
