Posted on 09/12/2001 8:15:30 AM PDT by kattracks
No hope of survivors in Pentagon attack By PAMELA HESS WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- No one who survived the impact and collapse of the Pentagon in the area where a hijacked civilian airliner crashed into the building could have survived the fire afterward, the Defense Department said in a statement Wednesday. "Reconnaissance efforts conducted overnight indicate that there are no survivors in the immediate collapsed area. Listening devices that have been able to get in have proven negative, and it is doubtful that anyone in the immediate impact area survived," the statement said. An American Airlines jet, hijacked out of Dulles Airport on its way to Los Angeles, was loaded with thousands of gallons of fuel and erupted in an intense fire in the immediate crash area. Search-and-rescue operations are continuing, but they are stymied by at least two fires on either side of the impact area. Firefighters are directing hoses at the flames -- manifested by great plumes of bitter smoke -- from the center courtyard of the Pentagon. Rescue teams planned to use a wrecking ball in the collapsed area to clear away unstable rubble, clearing the way for the Montgomery County and Virginia Beach Urban Search and Rescue Teams to begin the search in adjacent areas. Arlington County firefighters and rescue teams have been directing the recovery operation. Dozens of body bags were stored on the grass surrounding a snack shop in the Pentagon's center courtyard, a structure playfully known as "Ground Zero," as it was long considered a high priority target point for Soviet missiles. -- Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved. --
Spoke with him this morning, and he said that the fire is still spreading.
Tony Snow just broke in on Fox News, and confirmed that the Pentagon has been evacuated because the fire is uncontrollable.
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