Remains still being found near Ground Zero

Pedestrians walk at dusk past Ground Zero Tuesday evening in New York City. In a ruling two days ahead of the second anniversary of the devastating attacks in New York and Washington, a US court ruled that families of the victims of the 11 September attacks can sue for damages from the airlines, airport security officials, a plane manufacturer and the owner of the World Trade Center. Photo: AFP

Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner, said DNA tests would be used to try to identify the remains. The process, she said, will take at least several days, and it may prove futile because heat, humidity and other factors affecting human tissue decrease the effectiveness of the tests.

The remains were found on a scaffolding that had been put up before the attack, on the north side of a 25-story building at 90 West Street. The location is a block south of where the trade center's south tower stood.

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Lt. John Ryan of the Port Authority police told The Associated Press that the building had been searched for remains after the attacks, but that he was not surprised that more body parts had been found because burned-out floors and other obstacles had left parts of the building inaccessible.

City officials say 2,792 people were lost in the attacks. Of those, 1,521 have been identified, Ms. Borakove said, with 785 of the identifications made entirely through DNA testing.

For many families, finding remains even two years after the attack has been more distressing than the attack itself. The other day Al and Ginger Petrocelli learned that some remains of their son, Mark, had been identified. Again. Which meant that it was time to visit the funeral home. Again. Time to cremate. Again.

This was the fifth time in the last two years that parts of Mark Petrocelli had been identified. Mark Petrocelli, 28: husband of Nicole, son of Al and Ginger, younger brother of Al Jr., uncle of Emily, friend of many. The fifth time.

His father, Al, sat at the dining room table in the family home, a home where the cappuccino maker is no longer used because so many cups had been shared with Mark and Nicole. He looked at his handwritten notes on a yellow pad; this is one of the ways he tries to make sense of things.

"This time," the father said, "from his left knee down to the top of his foot. Right femur with right lower leg and kneecap. Some skin. A piece of skull bone. Soft tissue. Muscle."