SARA KUGLER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- It took a court to declare Iris Rothberg's son dead. She has no proof to show a medical examiner and no body to bury, just the promise of a wooden urn filled with soil from the World Trade Center where he worked.
Three weeks after terrorists crashed jetliners into the Trade Center towers, Michael Rothberg and 40 co-workers from the bond trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald became the first among 5,219 people missing in the wake of the attack to be declared dead by a court.
The process was expected to continue on Wednesday as officials geared up for a visit from President Bush, his second since the Sept. 11 attacks. He was scheduled to visit an elementary school, meet with business leaders and have lunch with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Gov. George Pataki and New York City firefighters before heading back to Washington.
``This is the core of the American economy that was attacked,'' Giuliani said Wednesday on CBS's ``Early Show.'' ``If you rebuild that effectively, you rebuild the American economy.''
Seven hundred of Cantor Fitzgerald's employees haven't been heard from since the day of the attacks. All worked above the 100th floor of the first tower hit.
``It's been three weeks and nobody from the firm got out,'' Iris Rothberg said Tuesday. She said her family asked a special state Supreme Court panel to clear the way for a death certificate.
It's just a first step in dealing with a list of legal issues the family faces with her son's death, and it does nothing to lessen the pain.
``The feeling is the same as the day it happened,'' she said.
Once the health commissioner receives the court's report, he will issue a death certificate. The document, necessary for insurance benefits and to access bank accounts, normally take up to three years if there is no body, but officials have streamlined the process to help the families.
Giuliani said Tuesday that 1,202 families had applied for death certificates for loved ones among the missing.
Of the 363 people confirmed dead as of Wednesday, 301 have been identified. Officials expect it to take months to recover remains from the 1.2 million tons of rubble and say some of the victims may never be found.
Bush, seeking ways to salvage the American economy that fell with the twin towers, met with congressional leaders Tuesday in Washington to discuss legislation to spur the economy.
``The president is very concerned about the effects of the economy in New York _ not only in New York, throughout the country,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
To help cover the costs, New York City on Tuesday easily sold $1 billion in bonds to meet cleanup and relief needs. Officials said the bonds sold out in two hours and investors placed $4 billion worth of orders.
Giuliani said the response indicated that people wanted to ``make a statement that they support New York, but also that they realize the economy of New York is a very, very strong one.''
However, the mayor had harsh words for people he said had been trying to profit off the attacks by offering to sell debris to the victims' families. The mayor said special urns would be made for the families instead.
``We've asked that an urn be prepared in which soil from the World Trade Center will be put, so that every family can be given something from the World Trade Center,'' Giuliani said. ``No one is going to sell anything from the World Trade Center _ we're going to give it to you.''
One of the survivors, a security broker caught in a fireball on the 83rd floor, left the hospital Tuesday _ the first victim released from the New York Weill Cornell Burn Center. Fourteen others remain there.
Manu Dhingra, 27, had burns covering a third of his body. He thanked two co-workers who kept him going as they made their way down the stairs after the attack.
Wearing a Yankee cap and a New York Firefighters Foundation shirt, his arms still in wraps, Dhingra said he could not explain ``why I have a second chance'' when thousands of others did not.
But he added that he was energized by the spirit of unity in New York.
``I want to be part of it,'' he said.
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