Associated Press
NEW YORK — The passport of a suspected hijacker was found Saturday near the ruins of the World Trade Center as exhausted rescue workers clawed through the wreckage.
FBI Assistant Director Barry Mawn did not disclose the name on the passport or other details, but the discovery prompted an intensive search for evidence blocks from the towers that were brought down in Tuesday’s terrorist attacks by two hijacked planes.
The city released a partial list of victims, and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said 159 people had been confirmed dead, including 18 firefighters. Nearly 5,000 are missing, among them an FBI and a Secret Service agent.
For the third frustrating day, the cleanup effort at ground zero yielded none of the pings or knocks that might signal a survivor.
John Hartley, a volunteer from White Plains, N.Y., spent a grueling 16-hour shift passing buckets of rubble by hand. When it was over, he practically staggered up the street. "You’re taking out rubble a brick at a time. You’re always hoping that you find something," he said.
Dazed firefighters showed the strain of their fruitless hunt for life.
"They’re drained," said Greg Shriver, a firefighter who traveled down from Connecticut to help. "They have to rest up to go back. They’ve lost a lot of brothers."
About 300 firefighters were lost in the carnage, by far the worst tragedy since the city’s first engine companies were formed in 1865. Giuliani said the New York Fire Department would announce 160 promotions today to replace fallen officers.
The department mourned three top officials at funerals Saturday, including a beloved chaplain who had comforted colleagues for decades.
The Rev. Mychal Judge — known to all as Father Mike — was one of the first to arrive at the trade center after the planes slammed into the twin towers. He lived in a Franciscan friary opposite a Manhattan firehouse and responded with that unit after the first reports came in.
Judge died while giving last rites to a firefighter mortally wounded by a falling body. When the priest removed his fire helmet to pray, he was struck in the head by debris and killed.
Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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