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CNN Saturday Morning News

New Yorkers Search for Survivors

Aired September 15, 2001 - 09:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we're going to catch up with Elizabeth Cohen, who is standing by at the Armory, the place where family members from all over the world are going to try to track down what happened to some of their loved ones.

Elizabeth, what's going on there right now?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, some 3,000 people have been to the Armory ever since the explosion to register information about their loved ones. And today they've started DNA testing. A close relative can come in, have the inner cheeks swabbed. They save that DNA, and they then would match it up with remains that they find from the rubble at ground zero.

I'm here with someone who's been to the Armory. His name is Hagia Bukara (ph). And he is a very special person. He is a friend of Lindsey Herkness (ph), who is a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley.

Mr. Herkness is a very good friend. He was your boss.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was my boss, yes. He was -- he is my boss, more than boss, my friend, everything. I'm still looking him, and we cannot find. This is the fifth day we looking him. I hope we see again him. I'm putting everywhere his picture, and I hope -- I'm hoping to see again. I don't know what to do. I have his dog with me, which is Gaston. Gaston, he's with me, he's tired now. He's walking with me. We're doing some job for him, looking him, and we want to thank CNN, thank you so much, and we're going to remember CNN all the time.

COHEN: I want to mention there are posters all around the city that say, "When you -- if you know someone who's missing, and if they have a pet, go get that pet, go feed him, go help him out." Have you lost hope after all these days?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we lost all these days, everything.

COHEN: Do you think that he might be found alive?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is the -- for me, he is not dead, he's still alive. I hope we see him today or tomorrow, whatever.

ZAHN: And you were supposed to go to work at 10:00 Tuesday morning, is that right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, when I saw the TV, the building was burning, and I cannot do it, nothing. I said, maybe -- I call -- I was calling, and the phone was gone, everything was gone.

COHEN: So you must have lost many friends, not just Mr. Herkness, but so many people at Morgan Stanley.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people, yes, Morgan Stanley, we lost a lot of people. I hope we find someone. At least I can say I saw him, he was there. And we don't know which floor he was. We are -- he was 73rd floor.

COHEN: Seventy-third floor. You can see here, this is Mr. Herkness's business card. When I looked at it, I thought, It's just an ordinary business card. But this address, Two World Trade Center, 73rd floor, used to be just an ordinary address, and now it's an address of horror.

Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Elizabeth.

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