• Search for human remains at 9/11 plane debris site in NYC begins

    View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

    By Shimon Prokupecz, NBCNewYork.com

    Workers for the New York City medical examiner's office have begun sifting soil for possible human remains at a site near the World Trade Center where a chunk of airplane debris believed to have come from one of the 9/11 hijacked jetliners was found.

    The aircraft part has been identified as a piece from a 767 wing, officials said Monday. NBC 4 New York, which first reported the finding in an alley near ground zero last week, has also learned the answer to the mystery of a rope that was found intertwined in the part — according to a law enforcement official, a detective who responded to the original call about the part last week tried to move it with a rope.

    Authorities on Friday had said the rope might have indicated the part was lowered into the alley, but have since interviewed everyone who had contact with the part last week and have now answered that question. The official tells NBC 4 New York that the detective found the rope nearby and was trying to move the part to find a serial number or other identifying mark.

    The NYPD also said Monday that a Boeing technician has confirmed that the 5-foot part is a trailing edge flap actuation support structure.

    "It is believed to be from one of the two aircraft destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, but it could not be determined which one," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

    On Sept. 11, American Airlines flight 11 hit the north tower at 8:46 a.m., and United flight 175 hit the south tower at 9:03 a.m. A FEMA graphic below shows that all the other plane parts in the immediate area were from flight 175.

    Police and officials from the city medical examiner's office were on scene Monday preparing to sift the soil under the part for lost human remains. Officials said the part will be removed later in the week when that process is complete.

    The part was found wedged between two buildings in a very narrow alley only about 18 inches wide between the rear of 50 Murray St. and back of 51 Park Place, the site where a mosque and community center has been proposed three blocks from ground zero.

    The part bears a "Boeing" stamp, followed by a series of numbers.

    The NYPD said the landing gear was found after surveyors hired by the property owner inspecting the rear of 51 Park Place called police on Wednesday. 

    Most of the rubble from the 9/11 attack was cleared from the 16-acre site by the spring of 2002. Other debris, including human remains, has been found scattered outside the site, including on a rooftop and in a manhole, in years since.

  • Tsunami debris? What looked like large dock vanishes off Northwest coast

    U.S. Coast Guard

    What looks like a large dock is seen in a photo provided to the U.S. Coast Guard by crew of the "Lady Nancy" fishing vessel on Friday, Dec. 14.

    By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

    The Coast Guard was on the lookout Tuesday for a mysterious object that could be the second dock to make landfall from Japan’s tsunami. 


    Reported five days ago by a fishing crew, the object hasn't been seen again even though the U.S. Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are looking hard.

    "The dock hasn't been located again since the initial report," NOAA spokeswoman Keeley Belva told NBC News. "We have been doing trajectory models, but given that the first sighting was several days ago, it becomes increasingly challenging to anticipate where and when the dock may show up."

    Crew aboard the "Lady Nancy" sent the U.S. Coast Guard a photograph of the object, saying it was taken about 16 nautical miles northwest of Grays Harbor, Wash.

    The Coast Guard said Monday it was broadcasting an alert to mariners but that after five helicopter searches covering 317 square miles it hadn't spotted the flat, dark object.

    "There could be many factors in why it hasn't been seen," Belva said when asked if it might have sunk. "The weather has been pretty stormy and the seas have been rough. As you can see from the picture, it is hard to see even in better conditions."

    The photo shows an object similar to a Japanese dock that washed ashore in Oregon last June. The 66-foot-long dock is the largest tsunami item to have made it to the West Coast.

    Another dock was seen off Oahu, Hawaii, in September but Belva said it wasn't known if that was Friday's sighting.

    Japan estimates the 2011 tsunami swept about 5 million tons of debris into the Pacific, and that two-thirds of that sank quickly. Some of the remaining 1.5 million tons are heading for West Coast shores.

    Through Last Thursday, NOAA said it had received 1,432 debris reports, of which 17 have been confirmed as definite tsunami debris.

    NOAA asked that anyone sighting the new object or any other large debris report it to DisasterDebris@noaa.gov. 

    The trash accumulating in the Pacific Ocean – scientists estimate there are 1.5 million tons of tsunami debris alone -- is arriving on the West Coast. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

     

     

  • Who foots the bill for cleaning up Japan's tsunami debris?

    A 20-foot boat came ashore Friday in Washington state covered in massive barnacles. When invasive, non-native species are suddenly introduced into an eco-system, they can cause an environmental disaster. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

    The Japanese tsunami debris washing ashore on West Coast beaches is so far a novelty that has locals talking and tourists visiting, but those sporadic beachings will become more frequent -- and more costly to clean up.


    In addition to removing the debris, and in some cases trying to reunite it with owners in Japan, crews must also deal with the threat of invasive marine species that could threaten local ecosystems if they grab a foothold.

    Oregon's Department of Parks and Recreation learned first hand about the costs when a 66-foot-long dock landed on a beach near Newport last month.

    Oregon Parks and Recreation Department

    A volunteer on June 7 burns marine organisms off a Japanese dock that came ashore near Newport, Ore.

    Volunteers helped burn non-native seaweed and other organisms clinging to the dock, and the department put in $4,300 for machinery. The state on Tuesday also accepted a bid of $84,000 to have the structure removed from the beach. Other bids ranged as high as $240,000.

    "As far as who pays, there is no single budget set aside for it at this point," parks spokesman Chris Havel told msnbc.com. "We are working with the governor's office and federal legislators to try and shield coastal communities from the direct cost as much as we can, but there are no concrete answers yet."

    As for the months ahead, "no one knows how much it could cost, or who will pay," Havel said. For now, the department has to "pay for it up front" with funds budgeted for other items.

    At the federal level, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awards grants for cleanup of marine debris, but that program was created before the 2011 tsunami and is meant to deal with smaller messes.

    When a large dock that broke away from a Japanese harbor after the tsunami and washed up on an Oregon beach, it brought along millions of organisms. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    Grants have totaled up to $1 million a year recently, NOAA spokeswoman Monica Allen told msnbc.com, but the program isn't accepting new proposals until the fall. 

    Even worse for Oregon, "the program does not award grants for past work done before the award," Allen said.

    In Washington state, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Monday said the state has some funds set aside for tsunami debris cleanup, but it's likely not enough. "We don't have the resources at the state level to do what we're going to have to do here," she said.

    Northwest Public Radio said a state ecology spokesman suggested Washington might even send Japan the bill for cleanups. "That's something that needs to be sorted through," Curt Hart said.

    But the state department later said that comment was misconstrued, and that it referred to the broader issue of how to pay for cleaning up the debris. State officials have never considered asking the Japanese government for funds, the department told msnbc.com.

    NOAA's Allen said the agency is working with communities to "reduce any possible impacts to our natural resources and coastal communities," but she stopped short of saying federal funds were available.

    A basketball that washed away during last year's tsunami in Japan was returned to its rightful place Wednesday. NBC's Michelle Franzen reports.

    "This is an ongoing issue," she said, urging communities to keep an eye on NOAA's marine debris website. 

     

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • Dock becomes largest tsunami debris to arrive from Japan

    A nearly 70-foot-long dock floated onto an Oregon beach after being torn loose from a fishing port in Japan after the tsunami. Mark Hanrahan reports from NBC's Portland, Ore., affiliate.

    By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

    A large dock that floated onto an Oregon beach is debris from last year's tsunami in Japan, Japan's consulate in Portland said Wednesday.

    The 66-foot-long dock, which had been in use in an area hit by the March 2011 tsunami, is the largest piece of debris discovered on North America's shores so far. 


    "It’s one of four floating docks washed away by the tsunami, which means there are three more floating somewhere possibly," OregonLive.com quoted Deputy Consul General Hirofumi Murabayashi as saying.

    A check for any radiation from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant came up negative, said Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation spokesman Chris Havel.

    The department  is overseeing efforts to remove the dock but hasn't decided yet whether to demolish it on site or have it towed off. "You can't preplan for stuff like this," Havel told msnbc.com.

    Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept

    This Japanese dock washed ashore on an Oregon beach Tuesday.

    A starfish native to Japan was found clutching to the structure, Havel said, adding that another concern is to keep out any nonnative species that might have hitched a ride on the dock.

    The dock, which is 19 feet wide and 7 feet high, washed ashore Tuesday on Agate Beach, a mile north of Newport in central Oregon.

    Small groups had already gathered to see the dock and state police were posted to keep people from climbing on it. 

    "I think that's going to change to large crowds," Havel said.

    Some tsunami debris has begun arriving in recent weeks, including a soccer ball that washed up in Alaska and a shipping container holding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with Japanese license plates that turned up in British Columbia. 

    Debris continues to cross the Pacific, this time from a middle school destroyed by the tsunami. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Most debris is not expected until winter.

    Anyone finding debris thought to be from the tsunami is advised to report it to DisasterDebris@noaa.gov. 

    Buoys, bottles and cans believed to be from the Japan tsunami are surfacing in Washington State, Alaska and British Columbia, and scientists say the mess will be there for generations. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook


  • New tsunami sign: Japanese soccer ball washes ashore on remote Alaska island

    David Baxter via NOAA

    This soccer ball with Japanese writing came from a school in a tsunami-stricken area of Japan.

    By msnbc.com staff

    A volleyball and soccer ball that washed ashore on an Alaskan island may be the first pieces of debris to arrive in the United States from last year's tsunami in Japan.


    The sports balls were spotted by radar technician David Baxter on treeless, windswept Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska, Doug Helton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle said in an agency blog post.

    Baxter’s wife translated writing on the soccer ball and traced it back to a Japanese school in an area hit by the tsunami, Helton said.

    He told the Anchorage Daily News the balls were the first tsunami debris retrieved in Alaska.

     

    "There have been other items that were suspected, but this is the first one that we're aware of that has the credentials that may make it possible to positively identify it."

    Helton, in the NOAA post, said the agency, the State Department and the Japanese Embassy and its Seattle consulate are working to confirm details and set up the return of other debris that comes ashore.

    A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Japan's northeast coast on March 11, 2011, triggered a 75-foot wall of water that flattened waterfront towns, killing 16,000. Three thousand people are still unaccounted for. The tsunami triggered a crisis at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee in the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

    U.S. authorities were immediately aware that the clockwise circulation of the Pacific's northern waters would deliver some remnants of that destruction to American shores.

    A Japanese ghost ship Ryou-Un Maru turned up earlier in the Gulf of Alaska off Southeast Alaska after a 4,500-mile journey. The U.S. Coast Guard ended sank the vessel April 5.

    In January, a half-dozen large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms appeared at the top of Alaska's panhandle and may be among the first tsunami debris.

    State health and environmental officials have said there's little need to be worried that debris landing on Alaska shores will be contaminated by radiation.

    This article contains reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook