Grim Reality

Nation and city face enormity of huge death toll

This story was reported by Karen Freifeld, Katia Hetter, Graham Rayman, Mary Voboril, Jordan Rau, Herbert Lowe, Bobby Cuza, Margaret Ramirez, Dan Janison, Sean Gardiner and Tami Luhby | It was written by Ron Howell.

September 13, 2001

A flag hangs as rescue workers walk amid the rubble of the World Trade Center yesterday. (AP Photo)

Thousands of rescue workers sifted mightily through the mound of debris that was once the World Trade Center yesterday, as New Yorkers came to the grim realization that few survivors may be found amid the wreckage.

By late evening, officials confirmed pulling only four survivors from the wreckage.

The tally of bodies was unfortunately larger, with 82 recovered. Six thousand body bags were brought in as officials anticipated finding "several thousand" more dead in each of the two towers that collapsed Tuesday morning.

The search was made tougher as firefighters tried to quell small pockets of fire that appeared to be caused by ruptured gas lines.

Adding to the labor and the debris, a portion of the bottom four stories of the south tower, Tower Two, fell yesterday.

The scope of the attack became devastatingly clear when concerns were raised that the entire staff of some firms based in the Twin Towers may have been wiped out. The destruction's reach extended well beyond the city. One school district on Long Island reported that more than two dozen of its students may have lost a parent in the blast.

And at one Catholic church in Manhasset, families prayed for dozens of loved ones who were injured or missing.

Even as the dust cleared, the city remained on edge. Panic broke out in Manhattan shortly after 10 p.m. when police evacuated an area of several blocks around the Empire State Building, including Penn Station. Police herded hundreds of people east to Third Avenue, and a police officer ran down 34th Street, shouting, "There's a bomb threat - move east - there may be a bomb." Police gave the all-clear at about 10:35 p.m.

In Brooklyn, a Manhattan Beach landlord called police and said she suspected one of her tenants was part of the terrorist attack because his van had Massachusetts license plates.

In Queens, FBI and immigration agents questioned a Saudi Arabian pilot yesterday after workers at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel near Kennedy Airport called to say he appeared suspcious. The pilot, who had more than $30,000 cash, was not allowed to continue his trip to Florida.

Despite the frustration and fatigue caused by the carnage, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani vowed the city would soon recover from Tuesday's staggering terrorist attack and that it would rebuild on the land where the Twin Towers once stood.

"We're going to rebuild and rebuild stronger," he said yesterday. "It's going to be a testament as opposed to the evil that they made it."

He acknowledged that the night before he had been "haunted by the thought that thousands of people could be buried."

With lower Manhattan closed off to all but U.S. soldiers, police officers and rescuers yesterday, the task of sifting through the metal and dusty debris of the formerly majestic towers was tedious and thankless.

Despite earlier encouraging reports of trapped people communicating with the outside world on cell phones, the live bodies underneath the rubble were few and far between.

Fire Department Capt. George Palacio worked along with 20 others for five full hours. Bulldozers had to clear the way for them. Cranes then had to lift huge metal beams. They had to wade through small mountains of dust and broken glass.

The fruit of Palacio's grueling labor was one single body. It was so mangled he didn't know whether it was a man or a woman. Workers hauled it away in an orange body bag.

"It seemed endless," Palacio said of the rescue and recovery work, speaking later in the day at his Manhattan fire station. "While we were working, we were all a little numb."

Palacio said it was not the kind of labor you leave behind when you get home.

"When you go home it hits a little more," he said.