ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press Military Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Approximately 190 people perished in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon, and the Army suffered the heaviest blow with 74 people lost, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Human remains pulled from the Pentagon were being taken to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to be identified. The first two helicopters carrying remains arrived at the base early Thursday afternoon and more were expected, a base spokesman said.
In what it called an initial and preliminary estimate, the Pentagon said 126 people who were in the Pentagon at the time of the attack Tuesday were killed. All 64 aboard the hijacked American Airlines jetliner that slammed into the Pentagon also died, putting the death toll at 190.
The figure was the first official estimate by the Pentagon. In a brief announcement, the Pentagon said that although search efforts were continuing, the final tally of deaths is not expected to change significantly.
Members of Congress at the site Thursday to watch the recovery effort said they were told by rescue officials that much of the fuselage of the hijacked airplane that hit the Pentagon remains intact in the wreckage, which could help investigators.
``It hits you right in the pit of your stomach,'' Rep. Ken Lucas, D-Ky., said of the gaping hole in the building's side.
Of the Army's loss of 74 people, 21 were soldiers, 47 were Army civilians and six were Army contractors.
The Navy lost 42 people -- 33 sailors and nine civilians. A partial list of names of the Navy people missing in the rubble, released by the Pentagon, showed that most were in their 30s or 20s.
The Marine Corps and the Air Force believe they suffered no personnel losses.
The Pentagon said defense agencies, which it did not identify by name, lost 10 people. One defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said seven of those worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency.
As of Thursday morning, about 70 bodies had been removed from the buckled section of the Pentagon as search-and-rescue workers toiled around the clock with little hope of finding more survivors.
The process of going through the rubble piece by piece and looking for remains is arduous, said Arlington, Va., Fire Chief Edward P. Plaugher. ``We're going to be there many, many days,'' he said.
FBI crews worked side-by-side, looking for evidence and making their way toward the flight-data and voice recorders of the commercial jetliner that was hijacked by terrorists and slammed into the Pentagon Tuesday.
``We're making inroads into the impact area foot by foot now,'' Fairfax County Fire Capt. Jerry Roussillon said Thursday after search-and-rescue teams worked through the night stabilizing the damaged parts of the building.
The workers were evacuated Thursday morning for about an hour following a telephoned bomb threat received by the FBI, officials said.
President Bush declared an emergency in Virginia, where the Pentagon is situated, to help rescue and recovery efforts. The declaration authorizes ``all federal resources necessary to meet urgent human needs and protect public health and safety.''
Arlington County, Va., fire marshal Shawn Kelley said searchers know ``the general area within the building where they can find the black box,'' the plane's voice and data recorders, but couldn't yet get there.
A small American flag planted on the roof spoke to the Pentagon's determination to restore its spirit despite the horrendous breach of its famous walls.
The little flag was replaced late in the day by a huge one. A dozen firefighters held the banner aloft on the roof, in a display timed to coincide with a visit from Bush. Then they draped it near the stricken section, a bold display of red, white and blue hanging two-thirds of the way down the wall.
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