Group Opposes Plan To Keep Loved Ones' Remains At 9/11 Museum
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A group of families whose relatives were killed in the September 11th attacks gathered Sunday to condemn a plan that would store unidentified human remains in a repository adjacent to the National September 11th Memorial Museum.
Speaking near the World Trade Center site, they said a recent informal survey found 95 percent of the families polled are against the plan.
The group also expressed concern about recent reports that the remains of 9/11 victims at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania were mishandled at Dover Air Force Base, with some remains ending up in a landfill.
The families are also calling on Congress to hold hearings on the ethical handling of remains.
"Now that they're going to put them on display at this so called memorial museum, that's totally unacceptable. They don't own the dead, the families own the dead," said Rosemary Cain, whose son was killed in the September 11th attacks.
"It's over 10 years, there's still thousands of human remains at the medical examiner's office that haven't been identified. They have the resources, they have the manpower, they have the technology and they have the money," said Russell Mercer, whose son was killed in the September 11th attacks.
In a statement, 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels said, "Since the very beginning, victims’ family members have strongly advocated for the unidentified remains to be returned to the World Trade Center site. This is the plan that has been honored and is being implemented."
unidentified remains to be stored at a repository adjacent, yet separate, from the Museum