WABC - New York, NY
(New York-WABC, September 25, 2001) -- Rescue workers at ground zero keep digging around the clock, looking for more than 6,000 people still listed as missing, as the mayor said Tuesday that some victims may never be recovered. Meanwhile, Giuliani announced plans to help the families of the missing get death certificates. NJ Burkett reports from lower Manhattan.
The wreckage is so vast that after two weeks it is becoming clear that rescue workers may not be able to sift through all of it. The mayor finally said Tuesday morning what workers on site have been saying for the past several days, that many if not most of the victims may never be recovered.
Buried within the twisted wreckage of the World Trade Center are more than 6,000 people. After two weeks, rescuers are now virtually certain that there are no more survivors and Mayor Giuliani said Tuesday that vast numbers of the victims may never be found.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, New York City: "We're going to end up with a situation in which we do not recover a significant number of human remains. The fire department is still conduction it as a rescue operation, but the realities are just the realities."
Searchers have begun using rescue dogs equipped with tiny cameras, allowing them to check the voids or crawl spaces to small or to dangerous for humans. Still, so far fewer than five percent of those missing at the start have been recovered.
It takes three years under New York State law for a missing person to be declared legally dead, but families of the World Trade Center victims will be allowed to file for death certificates beginning Wednesday.
Mayor Giuliani: "You have to prove who you are and then if you tell us who the employer is, we will get the proof from the employer that the person was at work, or the best of their knowledge at work at the time the buildings came down."
Late Tuesday afternoon Reverend Jesse Jackson arrived at the family assistance center to offer his support, knowing the staggering human toll may be too much for anyone to bear.
Reverend Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Leader: "Now we must turn to our faith and not to our fear. We must go forward by our hopes and our dreams and not be paralyzed by fear. We must go forward by our hopes."
The Reverend Jackson said that he seen the damage to the Pentagon building, but has not yet see the disaster site where the Twin Towers once stood. When he does see it for himself, he will likely conclude that seeing it on TV is nothing like seeing it with your own eyes.
Last Updated: Sep 25, 2001
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