Posted by Associated Press (165.247.14.11) on October 03, 2001 at 07:33:10:
More bodies found as crews lift
larger chunks of Trade Center debris
Associated Press
Oct. 02, 2001 08:40:00
NEW YORK - Clumps of bodies, including those of 15 firefighters, were
found under the rubble of the World Trade Center as heavy equipment
allowed workers to move giant steel beams and large pieces of debris.
The number of confirmed dead grew by 30 on Monday to 344, the largest
increase since the first week after two hijacked jets smashed into the twin
towers. Officials have identified 289 of the bodies, while 5,219 are listed as
missing.
"We're finding a lot of stuff in there," said construction worker John Yannucci.
"It's not a happy sight."
Law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said today
that the bodies of 15 firefighters have been pulled from the wreckage since
Monday afternoon.
Officials in the mayor's office said they could not comment on the recovery of
bodies until the families had been notified. Officially, 343 firefighters are
missing or dead and the number of their bodies recovered has risen to 86,
the law enforcement sources said.
A backhoe operator at the wreckage said the work is slow going. Dan
Panarella, who works for Turner General Contracting, said after getting off
his 7 p.m.-to-7 a.m. shift today that he typically will move a beam, wait as FBI
agents look through the newly uncovered wreckage and then move another
beam if given the go-ahead.
"When you pull out somebody's pocketbook and you wonder if they were one
of the ones that got out, it kind of hits you hard," Panarella said.
Some of the debris removal costs, as well as unemployment insurance for
displaced workers, will be paid by $1 billion in short-term bonds offered
Monday.
In a preliminary estimate last week, Senate aides said it would cost about
$39 billion to clean up from the Sept. 11 attack and rebuild the city.
Washington has pledged at least $20 billion.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, following a tour of the trade center ruins on
Monday with 108 other members of Congress, said no one can know how
much the recovery effort will cost. "We don't know if that's the iceberg or the
tip of the iceberg," Hastert said.
As more bodies were pulled from the rubble, 2,500 mourners gathered
under tents Monday at a memorial in Central Park for employees of Cantor
Fitzgerald, a bond firm that lost about 700 employees in the attack.
Joan Kirwin's husband, Glenn Kirwin, 40, was a partner with the firm and
died in the attacks. She and four others who lost their spouses addressed
the crowd.
"On the morning of September 11th, my life, as well as all of yours, changed
forever," she said.
The victims' relatives and friends hugged and cried along with the speakers,
who included the firm's chief executive, Howard Lutnick, and Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani.
Giuliani said some would never completely heal from the wound of the
terrorist attack.
"You'll need a great deal of support in getting through this. So will I, so will
many, many people in New York City and around the globe," Giuliani said.
"Your loss is shared by many, but particularly by a family of 8 million people,
and I speak for them when I say that your loved ones will never be forgotten."
He also attended a gathering for relatives of the more than 70 workers lost at
the trade center's Windows on the World restaurant. "I didn't think he'd come
to a service for dishwashers and cooks," Gilbert Ruiz Jr., whose father was a
kitchen worker, told The New York Times. "He proved me wrong, and it made
me happy he came.' "
National Guard troops will be patrolling 19 airports around New York state
beginning Friday. The 309 armed troops were called up by Gov. George
Pataki as part of a nationwide deployment requested by President Bush to
provide more security and coax travelers back to flying.
Their presence "could go on for as along as six months," Pataki said. More
than half of the troops will be assigned to John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia
airports in New York City.
On Wednesday, President Bush was expected to make his second trip to
New York City since the attack. His spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said the
president has been concerned about the effects on children and plans to
visit a school Wednesday.
The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Joe Allbaugh,
said he also would be in New York City on Wednesday to address what he
called "quite a few problems" with the cleanup. He did not explain what those
problems were.
In Albany, a study released Monday by state Assembly Democrats estimated
that more than 7 percent of the state's private sector jobs, accounting for
nearly 15 percent of the state's private sector wages, were threatened or
eliminated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
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On the Net: http://www.nyc.gov