Posted on 09/12/2001 7:34:54 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
NEW YORK, Sept. 12 — Crews looking in a mountain of rubble six stories tall for survivors of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center had to pull back Wednesday when the last vestiges of the south tower collapsed. The vibrations created by the fall of the last few stories of the steel-and-glass colossus threatened the stability of nearby buildings and there were reports that at least two were threatening to crumble as well.
MSNBC’S ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, reporting from the scene, said the collapse of the last remnant of the trade center tower caused a “giant crack” in the 54-story One Liberty Plaza and that a building behind it was buckling.
“It looks like any time it’s going to fall down,” she said of the Millennium building.
It was grim going for rescue workers as they tried to sift through the remains of two of the tallest structures in the world.
The landmark 110-story twin towers collapsed Tuesday after they were struck by two hijacked planes, leaving possibly thousands of people dead.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said crews expected to find at least “a few thousand” victims in each building. There were 55 confirmed fatalities — a number that was sure to grow. Another 1,700 injuries were reported injured.
Progress in the massive search effort was slow. Workers used cranes and heavy machinery, but only gingerly for fear of dislodging wreckage and harming any survivors. Searchers with picks and axes also worked slowly. Smoldering piles of debris unexpectedly flared at times, engulfing parts of the rescue area.
The scene in lower Manhattan looked like a moonscape. Ash blanketed the area and armed troops patrolled the perimeter.
Few bodies had been removed from the area, but the belongings of the tens of thousands of people who worked in Lower Manhattan were scattered through the streets.
Reams of paper fluttered through the streets — actuary tables, address book pages, stock trade sheets. Shoes littered the area and personal effects such a charred doll lay in the debris.
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 signs of life. Four victims, three of them police officers, had been pulled alive from the wreckage and another four firefighters were reportedly found alive.
Dr. Leonard Bakalchuk of St. Vincent’s hospital said there was still hope for the people trapped in rubble.
“If a person is simply trapped — wasn’t burned, wasn’t crushed — they may be OK for five to seven days. The problem is that in this situation, many people were hit by debris. They will have injuries that may lead to kidney failure,” he said.
Medics stood by with ventilators and eye-flush kits for the rescue workers who battled smoke, ash, shattered glass, piles of twisted steel girders and exhaustion.
The rescue workers came from near and far and worked around the clock. “We slept on a pile of asbestos,” said fireman Frank Turner.
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