WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Defense Department now says portions of unidentified remains from Shanksville, Pa. and the Pentagon 9/11 terrorist attacks were burned and dumped in a landfill after being taken to the Dover Air Force base mortuary
Mike Burke's brother Captain Billy Burke, a firefighter, died at the World Trade Center -- his remains were not found. He says he knows what the families are going through, "I think they are going to be very upset. It is a little outrageous. It is a little offensive."
The Pentagon review says the portions of seven corpses arrived at the mortuary but could not be identified, possibly because they were charred or too small for DNA testing. According to the report, they were first cremated but then turned over to a "biomedical waste disposal contractor." They were then moved with medical waste and burned. The report says after final incineration nothing remained but residual material that was taken to a landfill.
"It's going to be tough to deal with. You already had this loss and now you're finding these remains, this memory of the person you cherish had been treated in rather poor fashion," said Mike Burke.
Here in New York family members of W.T.C. victims argued that some remains of their relatives were taken to Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island after September 11th. The City Medical Examiner said he thought remains were contained in fine particles in the landfill, but a federal judge ruled the families could not prove they had a claim on any remains.
After all of that Mike Burke has a recommendation for officials. "Apologize, apologize, apologize. If you can console the family convince them let the good faith, that you are operating that way you can avoid a lot of bad feelings."
The Dover mortuary changed its policies in 2008. Now all unidentified remains are buried at sea.
Copyright 2012 - WPIX-TV, New York
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
