Landfill Site of Search for Evidence

Workers look for clues, remains in debris

By Mae M. Cheng | STAFF WRITER

September 18, 2001

An American flag dangles from a red-painted crane at the heavily guarded entrance to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island. This giant dump is now a fortress set up for the more than 1 million tons of debris that once was the World Trade Center.

Forensic pathologists and anthropologists are working with officials from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the New York Police Department to painstakingly sift through the rubble as a military helicopter circles overhead.

By late yesterday, nearly 41,000 tons of debris had been hauled to the site - mostly by truck convoys - for the search for evidence and human remains.

"It's just mind-boggling to think of every truck that has to be sifted through," said Clinton Van Zandt, a retired 25-year veteran of the FBI who worked on the Oklahoma City bombing and the Unabomber cases. "They're sifting through it as one would looking for gold."

Dogs also are sniffing through the debris. Refrigerated trucks store body parts before they are transported to the city medical examiner's office.

"It's the largest crime scene in the history of modern criminal history," Van Zandt said.

At Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers collapsed, another task force from the Commerce Department, the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. attorney's office and inspector general's office of the Department of Justice also was sifting through debris.

A task force of federal agents quietly working alongside the "bucket brigades" has collected 20 to 30 airplane parts from the wreckage, including what is believed to be a pilot's seat from the cockpit of one jet, federal law enforcement sources said.

Except for the seat, none of the airplane parts is more than 2 feet long, illustrating the force of the explosion and collapse, the sources said.

For almost a week, trucks, some as big as 22-wheelers, have been making the 45-minute run from the Twin Towers site, through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, onto Route 440 to the landfill. Some debris also has arrived by barge. Most of the 3,000-acre landfill site has been closed to the public for the investigation. Truck drivers said it's an emotionally draining experience. Their cargo contains mostly debris from the fallen buildings. But every so often, there are the grim reminders of the human tragedy, such as office stationery or personal belongings.

"It's not a good feeling," said Francisco Cintron, 22, of the Castle Hill section of the Bronx.

Cintron has made numerous runs between the World Trade Center and the landfill since he started Wednesday. While most drivers are on 12-hour shifts, Cintron has chosen to work around the clock. The only exception was midnight to noon Saturday, when he went home to be with his 4-year-old son, who was asking questions about the terrorist attack.

"I want to get the job done," said Cintron, who explained that he naps in the hours when his truck is being loaded and unloaded. "I just want to get it cleaned up."

Staff writers Graham Rayman and Dan Janison contributed to this story.