New York Faces The Day After
- Day Of Terror Followed By Grim Task Of Retrieving Bodies
- 55 Confirmed Fatalities; Numbers Will Surely Grow
- Remaining Part Of Trade Center Collapses
NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2001
 |
|
| Reuters |
|
(CBS) As the smoldering ashes of the World Trade Center slowly yielded unimaginable carnage, investigators fanned out across the country Wednesday to track the conspirators who orchestrated an unprecedented day of terror from the air.
Where the 1,350-foot trade center towers once stood, the concrete canyons of lower Manhattan were still a dust-covered ruin of girders and boulders of broken concrete.
Late in the day, the few stories of the south tower that had remained standing - the only recognizable vestiges of the steel-and-glass colossus - collapsed. Rescue workers were evacuated from that portion of the site but no injuries were reported.
The 45-story structure known as 7 World Trade Center and the Marriott World Trade Center hotel also came down. Four other buildings were severely damaged.
A Brooks Brothers clothing store became a morgue, where workers brought any body parts they could find.
The workers' grim task was interrupted by brief epiphanies of life, when a fortunate victim was pulled alive from the wreckage of the steel-and-glass buildings. Four victims, three of them police officers, had been pulled from the wreckage.
Progress was slow. Cranes and heavy machinery were used, but only gingerly, for fear of dislodging wreckage and harming any survivors. Searchers with picks and axes worked slowly, too - sometimes when they opened pockets in the debris, fires flared.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the best estimate is a "a few thousand" victims would be left in each building. There were 55 confirmed fatalities - a number that was sure to grow. Another 1,700 injuries were reported.
In New York, the rubble at the trade center was taken by boat to a former Staten Island garbage dump, where the FBI and other investigators searched for evidence.
One volunteer, Peter Coppola, said he had found four dead bodies in his 24 hours of searching. "The air down there is totally toxic," he said.
Smoke continued to billow upward, as it did all day Tuesday, and smaller fires still burned. Twisted metal piled 50 feet high filled the streets.
New Yorkers were told to steer clear of lower Manhattan and the financial markets were closed and were to remain so at least until Friday.
Schools also were closed and the New York Yankees' game was postponed, along with the rest of the major-league baseball schedule, including Thursday's games. Many other sporting events were either being canceled or postponed.
Flying home to New York today, seeing that gap in the skyline where the World Trade Center stood - Senator Charles Schumer says he felt sick to his stomach.
Schumer encouraged all New Yorkers to fly the American flag - from their apartment, their office, their store - saying - "Let that show these evil, despicable people that they cannot daunt our spirit."
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton calls the attack on New York an attack on America - "An attack on every American, no matter where he or she lives."
The lawmakers gathered in Manhattan to vow to rebuild - better than ever.
Governor George Pataki said, "America is behind us."
© MMI, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
|
|
For Education And Disscussion Only. Not For Commercial Use. |