Emergency workers look for victims in the rubble of the World Trade towers. Robert Mecea / Newsday</font size>
Posted on 09/11/2001 10:05:50 PM PDT by kattracks
New York (CNSNews.com) - "There was no advance notice," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, after a coordinated wave of terror attacks on U.S. soil Tuesday.
But there will be a strong and united reaction, President Bush assured Americans Tuesday in a videotaped statement. He said he has directed the federal government to find and punish those responsible for "these cowardly acts."
While national television replayed scenes of the smoldering Pentagon and the burning, toppling World Center Trade towers, President Bush was in secure location, first at an Air Force Base in Shreveport, La., and then at a base in Nebraska.
His aides reportedly were fretting over whether the president should return to the White House, even though the Secret Service said it could not guarantee his safety there.
State, local leaders respond
Leaders of U.S. cities and states, particularly those in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, appeared on national cable channels, expressing their shock and horror, and urging Americans to pitch in where they could.
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in a nationally televised appearance, said for him, the loss is personal. "There were large numbers of police and firemen in those buildings," he said. "The losses to our (New York City) police and fire departments will be staggering."
New York City Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen told WNBC-TV, "There were thousands of police and firemen in those (World Trade Center) buildings. We have no idea right now how many we lost."
"This is a vicious, unprovoked, horrible attack on innocent men, women, and children," Mayor Giuliani said.
By mid-afternoon Tuesday, with Manhattan sealed off to most vehicular traffic, the city's subways and bridges were the only way out for commuters, and thousands of them could be seen trudging over the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges into Brooklyn.
Appeals for emergency help
The New York Blood Center opened three centers in Manhattan for people to donate, in light of a critical blood shortage. As of mid-afternoon, there was a four-hour wait at one hospital - Roosevelt Hospital - for people wishing to donate blood, particularly O-negative.
Hospitals in New York City asked all medical workers to come in, given the crush of patients.
A representative at Bellvue Hospital, New York City's largest hospital, reported earlier in the morning, "We have seen over 125 patients. Two have died. We have some brain injuries, many serious injuries. This has been rather overwhelming."
According to the New York Police Department, "We expect to find a very large number of dead bodies in there (World Trade Center)." Some officials put the possible death toll in the thousands, given the fact that as many as 50,000 people work in the World Trade Center on any given weekday.
A doctor interviewed on WCBS-TV told reporters on scene, "The death toll could be in the tens of thousands."
Eyewitness accounts
After two planes hit the World Trade Towers within minutes of each other, ambulances raced to the scene. At one point, ambulances were lined up for about a mile, ready to transport patients, many of them burn victims.
Then the first of the two Trade Towers toppled, sending a cloud of dust across Manhattan.
A police officer told WCBS-TV, "You cannot see anything down there. It's so dark -- the thick smoke and dust is over everything. It's a choking smoke. I saw buildings flattened -- cars on fire. There are numerous police and firemen who are unaccounted for. We're all in shock. We're all on edge."
An EMS worker told WCBS-TV, "I was on the terrace (at World Trade Center) when the tower came down. The next thing I know, I wound up next to my commander on West Street (adjacent to World Trade Center). We were covered in dust and debris. When Tower 1 started to come down, we ducked under a truck for cover."
Cable television stations played live footage of one World Trade Tower smoldering Tuesday morning, while shocked viewers watched a plane slam into the second tower.
An eyewitness told CNN, "I saw about five people jumping from the buildings. I saw bodies on the ground. I heard the rumbling and someone said 'Run.' Then I heard debris falling and I went under a truck."
New York Police reported that many buildings in the vicinity of the World Trade Center were severely damaged because of falling debris.
As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, there was no clear indication of who was behind the wave of terror attacks. But we do know that an associate of Osama bin Laden was scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow in connection with the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa.
His sentencing was supposed to take place in federal court in Lower Manhattan.
Barry Jennings, a city employee on the 23rd floor told WABC-TV, "We're dead. I thought I was going to die. I was thinking about my sons, my wife. I started praying."
An unidentified eyewitness told WABC-TV, "I was in the building waiting for an elevator. I felt the explosion. A few seconds later the elevator door opened and the person inside was on fire."
Another eyewitness told WCBS-TV, "I was on the ferry heading to the World Trade Center. I saw the plane hit the building (Tower 1). There was a big explosion. It sounded like thunder. I saw the debris falling, some of it large. We all started running away. There were huge pieces of metal all over the street. Dust was covering everything. They were handing out surgical masks to people because of the dust."
Scott Nezzo told WCBS-TV, "I was on the 81st floor of Tower 1. I heard a loud explosion, and then the building swayed. We tried to go down one of the stairways, but the smoke was too thick. We then went to the other emergency stairwell, and started to walk down. It must have taken us about an hour.
"As we were walking down, firemen were going up. I saw burn victims. The carpeting on my floor was on fire. When I got down to the concourse (main level), I saw people's faces covered in black. There was no panic in the stairwell. The firemen were really helpful, cheering us on as we went down."
An eyewitness who was working in Tower 2 told WCBS-TV, "I heard what was like a sonic boom, then there was smoke everywhere. I had to walk down from where I was on the 86th floor. When we got down to the bottom, there was chaos. People were running everywhere."
CNSNews.com Morning Editor Susan Jones contributed to this story.
Emergency workers look for victims in the rubble of the World Trade towers. Robert Mecea / Newsday</font size>
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