A team of South Korean scientists has cloned a dog that helped locate and rescue people from the site of the September eleventh, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.

California-based biotech firm BioArts International announced Thursday in Los Angeles that five puppies were cloned through the use of somatic cells from the 9/11 German shepherd named Trakr that died in April.

The 16-year-old dog died from the aftereffects of excessive exposure to poisonous gas at the rescue site.

The cloning took place at Sooam Biotech Research Foundation of South Korea and the procedure was led by Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk, who produced the world's first cloned canine in 2005.

The puppies have been delivered to owner James Symington, a former Canadian police officer.

The five puppies, one of which is reportedly identical to Trakr, cost an average of over 140-thousand U.S. dollars each to clone.