New York, Apr 27 (IANS/EFE): A piece of landing gear thought to be from one of the two aircraft that hijackers crashed into the World Trade Center Sep 11, 2001, was found near ground zero, a New York Police Department spokesman confirmed Friday.

The NYPD established a crime scene at the site after receiving a call from the owners of a building at 51 Park Place in Lower Manhattan.

The part bears a clearly visible Boeing identification number, police said Friday.

Both of the planes used in the attack on the World Trade Center were manufactured by Boeing.

Surveyors spotted the piece while inspecting the site of a future Islamic community center.

Police said personnel from the medical examiner's office will conduct an evaluation before deciding whether to sift the soil around the find in search of human remains.

"The aircraft part will not be removed until the process is completed, at which point it will secured by the NYPD Property Clerk," the NYPD deputy commissioner said in a statement.

Nearly 3,000 people died when the two planes slammed into the World Trade Center towers and a third hijacked aircraft struck the Pentagon.

The fourth plane commandeered by Al Qaeda Sep 11 crashed in rural Pennsylvania.