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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Under Attack: Looking For His Father

Aired September 14, 2001 - 07:43   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Elizabeth Cohen, our CNN medical correspondent, is here, is with us now. She is at that armory in Manhattan, or was at that armory yesterday, and let's bring her story to you now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I have here with me Vinny Kamage (ph), whose father Rocco (ph) was in the World Trade Center.

And can you tell me where he worked and when your family last heard from him?

VINNY KAMAGE: My father was a window washer on tower two, the observation deck. He worked outside. He last called us at 9:15 a.m. from the 105th floor, where he said there was 200 to 300 people just on that floor waiting for them to be told to head down.

COHEN: And did he say that he was heading down or did he feel safe?

KAMAGE: He said don't panic to my mom. He said don't get upset. Tell my kids I'm going to be OK, not to worry about it. I'm in god's hands. We're all going to be OK, don't worry.

COHEN: And tell me why today you're distributing these fliers.

KAMAGE: This morning my mom woke me up early, telling me that his name was on one of the survivor lists on an Internet Web page and that we can get the best information from the building behind us, the armory.

COHEN: And what happened when you went into the armory here?

KAMAGE: I have a case number. I looked it up to see if my dad was in any of these hospitals and no luck. No luck yet.

COHEN: What's in your head now about what you think happened?

KAMAGE: I don't know. I know that my father, he wouldn't have just left everyone behind. He would have looked for his workers. He would have helped people out. He did it on the 90 -- when they bombed it in '93, he helped a pregnant woman down the stairs. COHEN: So he was in the building in '93 during the bombing?

KAMAGE: Yes, he was. He's been working there since 1973.

COHEN: Was he scared to go back and work in that building after the '93 bombing?

KAMAGE: My father went back the next day. They asked him, because they needed to inspect the outside of the building and my father knew how to operate the rigs. So he brought down all the workers to inspect the building.

COHEN: If you think your father might be out there somewhere, what would you want to say to him?

KAMAGE: I want to tell him that we all miss him. His little nephew misses him, and that we're strong. We've got hope.

COHEN: Thank you.

KAMAGE: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: All right, that was CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, an excerpt of an interview she did live yesterday afternoon during our continuing coverage.

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