NEW YORK - Workers recovered more human remains from several manholes as the city began a new search for September 11 victims.

The search was ordered after the surprise discovery of dozens of bones in an abandoned manhole this week.

Utility and city officials on Saturday hand-removed material from other manholes after tearing into the pavement on a service road along the site's western edge. It was then sifted onsite by forensic officials for fragments of human remains, said deputy mayor Edward Skyler.

City officials said that about 15 more pieces of remains had been recovered, bringing the total to nearly 100 this week.

Upset relatives of some September 11 victims called for a federally led new search for remains in and around ground zero after construction workers discovered bones in one manhole excavated as part of work on a transit hub, officials said.

The 80 bones and fragments found earlier this week ranged from a little less than an inch to 12 inches (2 to 30 centimeters) long, said Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city medical examiner's office. The bones possibly include ribs, arms, legs and vertebra, she said.

The active search for the dead ended at the site in 2002 after a massive cleanup of 1.5 million tons of debris. About 20,000 pieces of human remains were found, but the DNA in thousands of those pieces was too damaged by heat, humidity and time to yield matches in the many tests forensic scientists have tried over the years.

More than 40 percent of the 2,749 September 11 victims in New York have never been identified.