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Death Toll from WTC Attack Expected to Rise Sharply

HeadlineSep 13, 2001

Hopes were fading today that more survivors would be found from the attack that occurred two days ago that demolished the World Trade Center towers, now feared to be a mass tomb where thousands may be buried. The preliminary death toll had reached 82 by early today, but it’s expected to rise sharply in the days and weeks to come. New York City has ordered 6,000 extra body bags. About 40,000 people worked in the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says he fears a few thousand have been trapped in each of the towers. Coordinated attacks leveled the landmark 110-story Twin Towers on Tuesday, stunning the world. Hijackers took over two other jet liners the same day. One crashed into the Pentagon outside Washington, and the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania. In a feverish around-the-clock search for survivors, hundreds of emergency workers used everything from heavy machinery to their bare hands to sift through tons of crushed concrete and twisted steel. Sniffer dogs searched the rubble of what had been a symbol of America’s financial power. The results of the monumental rescue effort so far have been dismal. As anxious families await finding out word about what has happened to their loved ones, only three people were found alive in searches all day Wednesday. Another two survivors were discovered on Tuesday. About 1,500 National Guard troops were deployed in the area, and a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was stationed a few miles away off the south coast of Long Island.

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