Investigators have removed wreckage, believed to be the trailing edge flap of a plane that hit the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, from a narrow alley in lower Manhattan earlier today. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner had also been on site, saying it "has concluded the inspection at 51 Park Place,” a spokeswoman for the forensic medical agency said this morning. No potential human remains have been recovered."
The plane part was found last Friday, by site surveyors for 51 Park Place. The space is being rented by developer Sharif El-Gamal, who has proposed turning 45-47 Park Place into a mosque (known to haters as the "Ground Zero" mosque) and community center. El-Gamal is also buying 43 Park Place.
Since rope had been found on the plane part, El-Gamal, through his lawyer, suggested that the plane wreckage was planted by opponents of his mosque-and-community center plan. (Some opponents had argued that the building should be landmarked because wreckage from the attacks had landed on the roof.) However, it turns out that one of the first responding police officers had tied the the rope onto the wreckage, in an attempt to move it to find identifying marks.
It's suspected that the part is from United flight 175, which hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center—that plane's parts were scatted for blocks around Ground Zero (see diagram).
The wreckage has been taken to the NYPD property clerk's office in Brooklyn. It's unclear what will happen to it—the NYPD has pointed out that sometimes the federal authorities seize plane parts, while it's possible it may also be a historical artifact for a museum.
