27 Apr 2013

Debris believed from 9/11 plane found

1:18 pm on 27 April 2013

A piece of landing gear believed to be from one of the planes used in the 11 September 2001 attacks has been found in New York.

Police said the 1.52 metre piece of metal, which bears a Boeing label and serial number, was wedged between two buildings near the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters that a length of rope was looped around the piece of steel and no marks were visible on the walls overhead, suggesting it could have been lowered from the rooftop.

The piece was found in a narrow, rubbish-filled space by surveyors who were inspecting a building, the BBC reports.

The New York Police Department secured the area behind 51 Park Place and 50 Murray Street as a crime scene.

The location is at the site where a mosque and community centre has been proposed, three streets away from Ground Zero - the site of the twin towers.

Nearly 3,000 people died in the terror attacks as planes were brought down in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Five suspected al-Qaeda militants are awaiting trial for the attacks at a military tribunal at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.