N.Y. police remove airplane part found near 9/11 terrorism site

New York police on Wednesday removed what is believed to be a part from one of the airplanes that struck the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Officials said no potential human remains have been found at the site where the piece of the plane was found last week. The medical examiner’s office had investigated the site for days.

“It’s a piece of history, and we tried to preserve it as best we could,” Deputy Chief William Aubry, who heads the forensic investigation division, told reporters near the site where the plane part was found last week. “It brought back a lot of memories.”

PHOTOS: The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001

The part, which weighs about 250 pounds, was found in a space less than 24 inches wide, about 2.5 blocks from where the Trade Center stood. The part, which is believed to have come from a wing, was carried over a 30-foot wall and lowered into a courtyard, then carried through the basement of a planned mosque and out to the street, according to video from the scene.

Aubry said police didn’t do any damage to the piece when they moved it. It was taken by truck to a police facility in Brooklyn.

The part was initially identified as a piece of landing gear, but officials later changed the description, saying it was part of the wing. Boeing officials have told police that the part came from one of its 767 airliners, but it isn’t possible to determine which one. Both hijacked planes that struck the towers, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were Boeing 767s.

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