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CNN Live Saturday

Search and Rescue Teams Look for Survivors at Ground Zero

Aired September 22, 2001 - 16:10   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Here is New York the sun is out, but there continues to be a heavy haze that obscures the skyline, in the background, in many ways. It seems heaviest down in the area around ground zero. That's were CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman joins us from.

But, Gary, there are reports of at least a glimmer of hope.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A glimmer of hope, Marty, but we don't want people to get their hopes too high. What a captain is telling us with the urban search & rescue team, is they are getting close to an area where there are air pockets where people could potentially survive.

Now, they haven't heard any sounds of survival. There are no indications that anybody is down there. But, they're very close to an area where they're going to look and see if they can find any survivors. What they do know is they expect to see people who have died.

I want to give you a shot now from 35 stories up, looking at West Street here in New York City. The street used to be chalk full of cars on any day of the week, especially now with people getting ready to out on a Saturday night. There's nothing but emergency crews, rubble and wreckage. This is just west of the World Trade Center, where they continue to work to pick up hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble.

Now, we just received new pictures from ground zero from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. All of the news crews haven't been given access all the time to the scene, so we have to rely on these pictures. And they show us smoke that still continues to billow, and fires that still continue to burn underground. You can see some of the 2,200 emergency workers on the scene.

What they are telling us now is that they've been digging for 11 days, trying to get to these areas where there are air pockets -- what they call voids. That's where five of the survivors were found the day of this disaster, and the day after, in other void. But, there were areas below tons of rubble. They are now getting close to those areas, and they're hoping that they find someone who possibly could have had water -- who possibly could have had food -- and who could possibly still be alive.

We don't want to get anyone's hopes up. I hate to say this so many times, but it's very important that all of you know that.

Right now, 6,333 people are the official list of presumed dead and missing. It is likely that number will go lower, however. We are told that many countries -- some 75 plus countries -- reported people missing. They have gotten calls from relatives who haven't heard from their relatives here in the United States, who may not have been at the World Trade Center area.

Tomorrow, Yankee Stadium, New York City -- a memorial will be held. Sixty thousand are expected to attend under very heavy security. All over New York City today in police precincts, members of the public were able to get some of the tickets to the memorial service, and we talked with some of those people a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so horrific what happened. We need to come together. We need to grieve together, heal together, get strong again together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It gives some kind of comfort, in that, you know, when people are together it's easier to cope with that situation, and maybe absorb you know, the shock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Officially, 252 bodies have been found. But we anticipate a news conference a little bit later from the mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani. It is expected to start about 4:30 Eastern time, and we know that number will go up, because firefighters have told us they have found bodies today. Marty, back to you. SAVIDGE: Gary, you mentioned the possibility of survival if a victim could have access to food and water. Where could there be there that a person, if trapped, could find that?

TUCHMAN: And I should emphasize, Marty, even maybe without food, but you would certainly need the water after all this time. And there's hope that there could be survivors where the shopping mall area of the World Trade Center concourse was.

I have to tell you, though, we've been talking to firefighters for the past couple of days, and they've been down to that shopping area, and they haven't seen anybody. But there may be other areas close to the shopping area where they could have access to water. We don't know. We've heard stories like this in earthquakes before of so-called miracles that have happened, when people who have survived for a long time, especially younger people, especially children, and that's what they're hoping to find.

SAVIDGE: We'll continue to hope, as well. Gary Tuchman, down there at ground zero, thank you very much.

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