NYC-WTC_000230559

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

NEV/York TIMES, mondaX September it, 2001

THE TALLY

With No Miracle in the Rubble, Hope Grimly Shifts to Acceptance Dy OAN DAR AY Day alier day come the numbers / \ that never seem to add up, from ±e number of ihc confirmed dead (190) to the number of those those still 'categonzed as "missing" (4,»b7>, ; But of all the statistics being sotemn- J'A' ■r I •jy shared in the aftermath of the "terrorist attack on the World Trade. / ■ a* ia-. Center last week, two in parucular bleed the reservoir of hope. Number of those rescued Front the rubble: five. f . ■ Number of those rescued since Wednesday: zero. ■ l-f. ,% >' Yesterday, though he in no way suggested that rescue efforts were drawing to a close. Mayor Rudolph ■ w. Giuliani genefy reminded the woTld that the chance for more survi­ vors was minuscule. "The recovery effort conlinues and the hope is still there thul we might be able to save some lives," he said, "But the reality is that in the

s A last several days we haven't found ; anyone." , Even so, wi3ps of fplse rumors — 'of firefighters found and cellphone ’ calls placed — continue to rise J ram the ash heap of Lower Manhattan to bolster and then dash the hopes of relatives and friends not quite pre , pared to say goodbye. Early yester­ day morning, word spread like fresh * .air that rescue workers could hear Japping from ihai hell below. 1 * Mr. Giuliani said he understood 'the strong human desire to almost will such stories to be true. Dut the .rumor of "knocking at the site" was false, he s^d, jusi as many other heart-stirring rumors before it were not true. "In any event." he said, "we’re going to coricinue to search for people and look for people — at the same Lime realizing ihut the losses here are staggering." The mayor's carefully chosen words echoed ihe language thai he and other officials have used over the days, language chat seems ic nudge people toward accepting whal has happened so that lliey can mourn. In their vows to do every­ thing humanly passible to save life [hey have injected rerninders of re­ ality. Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said un Saturday that . "the odds of saving people are very slim," and yesterday Gov. George E. Pataki said that re-scue workers were “doing all that they can in hope thal a miracle will happen." Same of the rescue workers emerging from the disaster site have LtVTcncc JKILMmrAnxIilal Petal been more pointed. One sweat- drenched firefighter from Long , A body was carried from the rubble of ground zero yesterday. No one has been pulled out alive since Wednesday, despite many false rumors, , 'Beach, stumbling away after a 12- hour shift at the burial site called

CITY_21MC100_008016515

NYC-WTC_000230559