"This was New York City's worst week probably in its
history and it's also been its best week because of the citizens of
this city," Giuliani said at a press conference late today.
Rescue workers have been searching around the clock for survivors of the
twin towers disaster. But the efforts remain painstakingly difficult
and tumultuous. One official said that workers can't even find
concrete. "It's all dust," he said.
Officials say the towers were "pulverized" by the two hijacked jetliners
that crashed into the World Trade Center Twin Towers on Tuesday.
Another plane crashed into the Pentagon and another crashed in a field
in Pennsylvania.
"The reality is that we're still told that there are possibilities and
that those possibilities can last for some period of time," Giuliani
said. "But the hope of recovering people diminishes obviously."
Exploring All Possible Air Pockets
No survivors have been found since early Wednesday. But officials are
still calling their efforts a "search and rescue" operation.
Giuliani said late today that a "substantial increase" in the recovery of body parts were being found by workers.
On ABCNEWS' This Week, Giuliani said he would wait
"as long as it takes" before declaring that no more survivors are
likely to be found, based on input from rescue experts and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency.
According to Giuliani, 4,957 people are still missing. The
number dropped from earlier today after officials eliminated
redundancies. The official death toll is at 190, with 115 of those
people now identified. Thirty-two firefighters were among those
confirmed dead.
"The recovery effort continues and the hope is still there that
we might be able to save some lives," Giuliani said. "But the reality is that in the last several days we haven't found anyone."
He urged New Yorkers to go about their life and encouraged tourists to visit the city and to spend money.
FBI Combs Area
The FBI has been conducting a block-by-block "grid search"
through devastated lower Manhattan, looking for the voice and flight
data recorders of the two aircraft flown into the twin towers.
Investigators discovered the passport of Satam al Suqami,
one of the terrorists aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first
plane to hit the World Trade Center.
Rescue workers have now cleared away 21,000 tons of debris,
using 1,200 truckloads. But when they tunnel into the wreckage, it lets
in more air and often has the effect of feeding oxygen to the
smoldering fires and hot debris.
The cleanup operation has also cleared the surrounding streets of debris in an effort to make the hauling process go faster.
DNA Samples Sought
Families of people missing from Tuesday's attacks have been gathering
personal items to help investigators identify victims in New York and
Washington. Giulliani has asked families and friends of the missing to
hand over personal materials that might help the medical examiner
recover DNA samples to identify their bodies.
Many people looking for a missing friend or relative lined
up at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan with items like hair combs
and tooth brushes that could aid authorities in determining whether
their loved ones were trapped in the destruction of the twin towers.
Hoping to find more of the trapped people, FEMA has made
arrangements to collect cell phone numbers of missing New Yorkers.
Every cell phone company in the nation has agreed to "pulse" those
numbers in hopes that either someone will answer, or that they can be
located in the rubble.
While the heroic recovery efforts moved ahead, activity of a decidedly non-heroic nature started rearing its head — looting.
New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said one person
was arrested for attempted burglary at Brooks Brothers, several have
been arrested for trespassing, and one person was arrested for trying
to steal a fireman's jacket.
Giuliani has also warned people to be wary of charity scams
and people who solicit donations through telemarketing operations. The
mayor said no legitimate organizations were doing so. Grim Task at the Pentagon
In Northern Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, crews
continued the grim job of sifting through the debris at the Pentagon.
Salvage crews expected to remove more bodies throughout the day from
the jetliner that drove a hole through the Pentagon's walls.
The government said that 188 people are unaccounted for since the attack
on the Pentagon, while 83 sets of remains have been taken from the site
and 77 sets have been sent to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for
identification.
Amid the daunting task, some good news emerged. The section of the
building hit by the plane was recently bomb-proofed, and engineers said
the renovations may have saved several hundred lives.
Even after the plane hit the building, the newly renovated Pentagon
walls did not immediately fall, giving workers 35 minutes to flee
before the floors collapsed. Engineers say if terrorists had hit
another corner of the building, hundreds more may have been killed. 
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