The remains of five Port Authority police officers, including a senior officer and the agency's only female commander, have been recovered at the World Trade Centre site.
Chief James Romito, Capt Kathy Mazza, Lt Robert Cirri and Officers James Parham and Stephen Huczko were among the 37 Port Authority police officers killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The bodies were discovered yesterday at the base of one of the World Trade Centre towers, according to a Port Authority spokesman.
All five had rushed from the Port Authority police headquarters and training academy in Jersey City, New Jersey, to help in the evacuation of the trade centre, he said.
"They were some of the finest people that I've ever worked with anywhere," Trevor said. "All five were highly regarded police officers. They helped countless people escape."
Romito, of Westwood, New Jersey, was a 30-year veteran of the force, Trevor said. Mazza, of South Farmingdale, New York, was a former registered operating room nurse who became the first female commander at the Port Authority's police training academy.
Parham, of Jackson Heights, Queens, had been promoted to be an instructor at the training academy before the terrorist attack. Huczko, of Hampton, New Jersey, was a registered nurse and EMT who belonged to the Port Authority pipe and drum band. Cirri, of Nutley, New Jersey, worked at the academy.
The remains of 14 of the Port Authority police officers killed on September 11 have now been found, Trevor said.
The city's official count of those killed at the World Trade Centre stood at 2,843 as of Friday.
The number includes 712 people whose remains have been identified by the medical examiner.
AP