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"Chief," Lim said finally, "what do you think the chances of surviving something like this are?"
"One in a billion," Picciotto said. "One in a billion."

Wow, it turned out to be 1 in 140! (2803/20) After constantly hearing that virtually nobody survived the collapse, it's a little encouraging to know that 20 people actually did survive in the rubble. I wish they (the press in general) had emphasized this fact earlier.

Remember that these rescues or escapes mostly happened in the first few hours. The two firemen buried next to the Tower were rescued that evening and Ms. Guzman was rescued around noon on Wednesday. The emergency workers were in chaos at the time, so the press was even more confused (worse than their usual state).

Rumors and distortions were running rampant even at the site. There was also several rescues of workers who while searching had gotten trapped. The press passed on the rumors that these were rescues of original survivors. When those rumors were corrected (and hurting the hopes of the families of the missing), the press grew wary of reporting about survivors. So the reports were delayed until tales could be fully checked out.

The story of the firemen, the cop and the lady in Stairway B was being told on the news magazines within a few days. Of course, they escaped on their own.

The two gents who escaped from the underground plaza and the fall of the South Tower both walked on their own out of the death zone before the second tower fell. So they were just part of the running crowds and not around when the post-collapse rescue efforts began. And the other gentleman who was in shock if he recalls everything may feel guilt that he left Mr. Canavan behind, so I doubt he's been interested in talking to the press. So the media had no idea of their amazing tale of survival. They were simply two of the thousands to flee.

The story of the two trapped firemen found by the off-duty Marine was definitely in the papers fairly soon after 9-11.

Finally, the story of Ms. Guzman and Mr. Buzelli was out there in at least garbled form -- Mr. Buzelli's final position on top of the rubble is probably the root of the tale of someone riding the collapse all the way down from the top. Consider his strong feelings of survival guilt, I doubt Mr. Buzelli wanted to initially talk to the press. And Ms. Guzman as the last survivor found was also reported (but lost in the rumors and confusion) -- it's just that her understandable decision to not talk to the media made it difficult to do a detailed story.

Think about it though, all that effort and digging only rescued three people. Sixteen others escaped on their own and Mr. Buzelli ended up above the wreckage.