NYC-WTC_000230559

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

YORK TIMES, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17. 2001

- Dcaui. aLUiiJuiiJig BWdy ai^ei ti tz- hour shill ai die buri^ site colled •ground zero, gave some sobering ad- ivice: “Just don't give people false THE METHODS rhope.” 1. In tragic cases of wholesale loss of ;hfe — the 1995 bombing of the federal /building in Oklahoma City, for exam- Hairbrushes, Razors, and High-Tech Identification fpie — the Une that separates rescue By SOMINI SENGUPTA private companies to help with the DNA analy­ able trajectory of the families of the missing //rom recovery is often blurred; usu- ses. The Laboratory Corporation of America, No forger was it the frenetic, crowded epicen­ Tljey poured into the Lexington Avenue ;aUy, Ihe somber shift from hope to with 900 offices across ihe country, will analyze ter of inquiry that it had been last week. Eyes ^acceptance becornes almosi under­ Armory all weekend, the relatives of the miss­ ing, bearing what was both the most mundane the personal Items of the missing and the cheek were glazed and shoulders were slumped stood. “There is no clear dem area- swabs of their kin, Relatives outside of New among ihe men and women who came through ^ilon where we are in rescue arid and the most revealing fragments of a life. A pink plastic hairbrush, its black bristles York were urged to call the company at 883-520- the police barricades. The dull ache ol waiting l^suddenly we're into recovery/' .an 6952 for the nearest lab locadon. had set in. No one Inside the armory could tell ^official from the Federal Emergency containing the last strands that came oft a woman's head. A razor, maybe streaked with DNA samples from the recovered bodies them how long it would take to Identify their ' Management Agency said yesLerday, will be analyzed by Myriad, a company based in loved ones. Days, weeks — no one knew. 7'The elements of the two can coexist the deiriius of a man's jutting chin. Dental records, a photocopied set of fingerprints, pho­ Utah, and by Cclera, a company based in Mary­ "J just feel very helpless,” said Sherwin /side by side, but there will come a Dhanani, 16, a twig of a boy with shades cover­ ;jx>iTit when rescue operations will be tos upon photos, and the most minute physical land. All of the analyses will be double-checked details; a shoe size, a bra size, the exact by New York State PoJice labcraiories. The ing his eyes. He came down from New Hamp­ ’over.” shire on Saturday to offer the trace he bore of He added: "It's just snnieihing location of a flower tatioo. medical examiner's office could not say yester­ So went the pilgrimage into the armory, day how long that might take. ' his father, Simon, 62. He furnished a smear ’that flows," from inside his cheek. “They said, *We'll con­ Subtly and very reluctantly, that which had been set up as a family assistance The repository of genetin intelligence will center. Family and friends were told chai those tact you' ” ''transitional flow is taking place now Friends of Simon Dhananl, a vice president Un Lower Manhattan. killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center would be identified using DNA matches. at Aon, OR the 99th floor of 2 World Trade The rescue mission continued iin- ‘'abated, ol course. Hundreds of work- So they came bearing genetic filaments of the men and women they loved If they shared a Providing the bits of Center, had spent the past five days scouring hospitals, fetching a toothbrush from his home ^ers siill shared yesterday in “bucket -brigade” duty, scooping pail after bloodline, th^ came to offer a bn of them­ selves, as did the teenager who hadn’t been in information for DNA in Hartsdale, N.Y., finding recent photographs. '■Then 11 began to sink In — maybe we should i^ll ol dirt from a site containing look for other ways,” said Barkat Fazal, a ^hundreds of thousands of tons of de­ bris. The reason for this naddening- contact with his father for some time who came to offer a smear from the inside of his mouth. and other matches. friend. "What other ways? Mr, Fazal shook his cly slow method o( rubble removal Is Or like the identical twin brother, the DNA head. 9to preserve any below-ground pock- maLchmaker's dre^m, who came to offer a "The DNA." offered Albano Martel], who lets of shelter ihai might collapse swab from inside his cheek. He came again the be moved today from the armory to a new family assistance unit Inside Pier M on the called Mr. Dhananl his best friend. He had in his i under the weight and vibration of next day and offered another smear, and then hand a plastic bag stuffed with " missing’ ’ post­ heavy equipment. his older brother came too, to offer a strand of Hudson River, near West 54th Street. A battery of ciiy agencies will set up shop there starting ers, and wondered aloud whether It was futile to b'. Bui wh«l can be the odds of surviv­ his own hair. Of course, they said, they knew paste more of them all over town. "What we're al when a pair of llO-story towers, that just providing more things wouldn’t bring today, along with a child care center. It is doing now is hoping (or miracles/' he said: . behemoths of concrete'and steel, col­ back their brother, Neil Shastri, 25. But they scheduled to be open seven days a week, from 8 Likewise, for Mr. Shastri's family, there lapse. creating a crater several couldn't keep themselves from coming anyway. a.m. to midnight, a place for relatives to lake was no more busy work lo be done. There was stones deep? VHien smaller build- “We just keep going to take other things,” the things that contain their missing s genetic only time now, and nochtng left to do but talk. . Lngs and structures nearby partly or said Priti Naik, Mr. Shastri's sister-in-law. maps. New Jersey officials said they would set Yesterday, they told stories about Mr. Shastri ! completely collapse? When Ihe re- "Probably just for our peace of mind." up their own family assistance center by and every now and then, they got a laugh from ’ j mains of two full-sized jetliners are Al a news conference on Saturday, the Wednesday at Liberty Slate Park in Jersey Kruij, his wife. They were not holding out false ‘ almost too insignificant to include in city's chief medical examiner. Dr, Charles S. City. Residents were urged to go there or call hopes any longer, Ms. Naik, Knii’s sister, said. I the measuring of the overall debris? Hirsch, called DNA analysis the mosi likely 856-652-7^74 (866.NJCRISIS) for inquiries. They wanted the waiting to be over. i While there sliJl exists hope that means of identifying many of those killed in the Yesterday, the Scene outside the Lextigton “At this point, everyone j ust wunis to know, I the bucket brigade will uncover hap- attacks The city has contracted with several Armory signaled a marked shift in the miser- either or," Ms. Naik said. ' hazardly formed sanctuaries — with ■ breathing people — what about the ! smoke plumes from slill-buming ■1 fires that might choke chose air pock- we’re starting to reach the outer the gap between necessary hope and Medical Cenier an East 23rd Street When asked why he supposed that ? els? What about the rainwater from txjundaries." Inevitable realization has been filled In Manhattan that rescue workers some people would perpetuate such Friday’s heavy showers that would In the Immediate wake of the ter­ with backbreaking drudgery, gut- were pulling many living people rumors, Mr. DlFulco — who has doz­ ■ flow naturally into those pockets? rorist attack on Lower Manhattan, gnawing idleness and the swap­ Irom the rubble, but that officials ens of Pon Authority colleagues ; And what about the spilled jet fuel hospitals throughout ihc metropoli­ ping of inspiring rescue stories that were suppressing the Informatton missing — said: "I think we have all ; poisoning that water? tan area braced for action, setting up are the stuff of myth. Some of those because they did not want terrorists been traumailzed whether or not we . Raiher than entertain the likely gurneys, mustering surgeons, round- stories have risen from the hole to Io know. were there, and as a result we are not J answers to Jhese ghastly questions, ing up supplies of blood — all for reach the ears of the anguished The story made absolutely no all entirely rationa]?’ ; rescue workers carry on. They streams of vicllms that never came. through the news media, only to be sense, but a clinical psychologist said Few see malice in the rumors; i breathe in the dusty, slinging air — Scarch-and-reacuc teams arc now sadly denied by Mayor' Giuliani or that she and uthers who heard the rather, they see aching wishes gone ; air that might be carrying atomized undergoing a similarly heart-rend­ some other official. tale eagerly believed ii. "It did seem awry. The construction workers who : human remains — and dig, though ing experience. A group of highly On Thursday, for example, there son of inconenjous," she confessed cannoi accept that the clanging re­ 5 futility tinges the words they use trained rescuers from California — were smiles in homes and news­ "Bui everybody wants to believe.” sponses they hear to ihelr own bang­ I When they pause equipped with mountaineering gear, rooms when false word surfaced that On Friday and Saturday, several ing on girders may be mere echoes. j Police Officer Edward McQuade, oxygen tanks and helmets with head­ five firefighters lust since Tuesday news media oucleis reported that The lirellghters who cannot' quite . with the Emergency Services Unit of lamps — spent the weekend waiting had been rescued, found in a burled calls were being made from emer­ believe that the glints of light coming ; the Port Authority of New York and for a call that never came. sport utility vehicle In the white tent gency lelephones in the PATH sta­ from one evacuated building are J New Jersey, said yesterday that Everyone al ground zero knows on West Street that sen'es as a Fire tion below the concourse of the World simply rellectlons Irom a glass ' workers had drawn some hope from that the last survivor to be rescued Department command post, a battal­ Trade Center; not true. Then came shard moving In the wind" not an : the discovery of air cavities on the was a woman found early Wednes­ ion chief, with face clean only where other news reports that a PATH SOS signal off a compact mirror. ■j outer perimeters of the disaster site day afiemoon, and that she was rivulets of sweat had run, was asked train full of passengers was stuck They are all motivated by this ! that appeared to be free of toxic pulled from beneath the nibble of a that day- whether the story was true somewhere between New York and Lhoughl: What If you stopped work­ i fumes. But he said that he did not crumpled pedestrian walkway that He just cursed. New Jersey; ”I spent most of my ing. and there wa^ someone's mother ! warn to raise false hope that more was several dozen yards from (he On Friday, a police officer who had Saturday addressing this one," said — or father, or brother, or wife — ■ survivors would be found: "I think it epicenter of collapse. been near ground zero told a clutch Pasquale Di?ulco, a Pori Authority still staring at darkness, waiting (or Js possible, but unfortunately 1 think In the nearly (Ive days since then. of workers at the Veterans Affairs spokesman. light?

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NYC-WTC_000230560