Part of landing gear from 9/11 plane is found wedged between luxury condos and Ground Zero Islamic center - 11 years after attacks

Police say the 5-foot piece of landing gear from one of the planes was found Wednesday lodged in a tiny alley just blocks from Ground Zero

Area is being treated like a crime scene and Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters the gear had a rope wrapped around it and may could have been lowered into the 18-inch gap



Medical Examiner will determine whether or not they search for human remains in the alley between the two lower Manhattan buildings



Police have found a sizable piece of one of the engines from a plane that crashed into the World Trade Center, more than 11 years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.



The piece of landing gear was found wedged between two buildings just blocks from Ground Zero- in between the buildings at 51 Park Place and 50 Murray Street in downtown Manhattan.



The location is particularly noteworthy because 51 Park Place is the site of the Islamic Cultural Center that stirred up controversy and months of protests two years ago when the site developers wanted to turn it into a mosque.



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Found: part of a landing gear from one of the 9/11 planes was discovered wedged between buildings with a mysterious rope around it

Close: The debris was found lodged in a tiny alley at 51 Park, mere blocks from Ground Zero

Just before 7pm Friday, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly arrived on the scene and was escorted inside the rundown building, where he put on a crime scene suit and was led to the site of the unexpected discovery.

In a press conference that took place across the street about 30 minutes later, Kelly told reporters that Wednesday surveyors were working in the narrow space when they came across an unidentified mechanical part.

Police received a report about the discovery, but officers who responded were not sure what the large piece of metal was resting in a very confined space littered with debris. Kelly then showed reporters a hand-drawn diagram of the scene made on a small piece of paper.

A short time later, the FBI, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Medical Examiner’s Office were notified. Pilots who were consulted ruled that the large piece of steel measuring 5 feet by 4 feet by 17 inches at one time was part of a plane’s landing gear.

Mystery: Commissioner Kelly (pictured) told reporters a rope was wrapped around the gear and that aspect of the find would be investigated

Some answers: Officials held a press conference in front of the buildings (pictured) where the gear was found

Kelly said that mechanical part was wedged in narrow space measuring about 18 inches, and according to Kelly, a rope could be seen intertwined with the steel.

Police officers cordoned off the section of Park Place surrounding the site of the discovery located inside a former Burlington Coat Factory department store, which was controversially turned into an Islamic center and mosque just blocks away from the World Trade Center site.

NYPD deputy commissioner Paul Browne told CBS radio Friday afternoon, 'No, it has not been known that its been there,' Browne said, denying that the building owners were aware that their back alley contained a piece of evidence from the 2001 terrorist attack.



'It was just only recently observed because it's wedged between a very narrow space between the rears of two buildings that almost touch.'

Kelly said that the investigation will look at the possibility that the part had been somehow lowered down into the narrow space. The gear has a serial number visible next to the word ‘Boeing.’

It is unclear which of the two planes the new-found part belonged to, as both were Boeing aircrafts.

Kelly said that on Monday, the medical examiner will investigate to determine if there are any human remains at the site, and it will then be determined how to move the plane remnants.

Intact: The gear found mere blocks from Ground Zero, bears a clear Boeing ID mark

‘It’s a manifestation of a horrific terrorist act,’ Kelly said, adding that this latest discovery may bring up difficult memories for the families of the victims.

Van Vanable, 63, a construction worker with Benson Industry Local 580, has been working on the yet-to-be completed Freedom Tower just a few blocks away.

On Friday, he was sitting on a bench in his red work helmet just steps away from the mosque building, next door to the Dakota Roadhouse bar, when he says police officers converged on the area.

‘It’s an amazing situation,’ Vanable said of the discovery made nearly 12 years after the 9/11 attacks.

The 63-year-ld construction worker, who lives in Harlem, came to Ground Zero a week after the tragedy and joined the massive cleanup effort hauling away debris. Speaking to MailOnline, Vanable said he is not surprised by the find.

5-feet: The chunk found Wednesday was 5-feet long and police say they've secured the area, pictured, 'like a crime scene'

The inspectors were the ones to call police and since that call, the NYPD has secured the scene as if it were a crime scene in order to document it and catalog evidence.



'We're going to treat this as a crime scene for the next week at least,' Browne said.

'The medical examiner is an important part of the investigation to first see if there's any contamination of the soil that makes it any health safety on the soil below it on the ground. And then they will then make a determination, the office of the medical examiner, as to whether to sift for any possible human remains that might be associated with this find,' Browne said.