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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Under Attack: Armory is Best Place For Info on Missing People

Aired September 14, 2001 - 08:27   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 I'm going to check in with Brian Palmer who joins us from St. Vincent's Hospital. This is the hospital, of course, that was the closest to the World Trade Center inferno and where many, many, injured were taken. What is the latest from there, Brian?

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning. Weather is indeed a concern here as well. It's Day Four in a New York City transformed both physically and psychologically by Tuesday's blast. Here at St. Vincent's things are sort of creeping back to normal. You'll see behind me there is traffic. This route has been opened. It's one of the main routes downtown so the state of emergency is no longer enforced in this part of town.

At St. Vincent's in the past 36 hours they have seen a number of rescue workers but no victims of the initial blast, which is very disappointing to them.

I repeat, in the 36 - in the past 36 hours no victims from the initial blast. They have treated rescuers including a Detroit firefighter who was suffering from blunt trauma. He is in fair and stable condition at this point.

The New York - the Greater New York Hospital Association reporting that roughly 3,700 people have been treated in the Greater New York area for blast related injuries. They're going to have new numbers for us mid morning. They don't expect those numbers to climb much higher.

Again, disappointing numbers meaning they're not pulling as many people out alive as they had hoped.

So that's the report here from at St. Vincent's.

ZAHN: Brian, I have to confess, I was getting some information - Brian, I have to confess, I was getting some information during part of your report. And I apologize if you're repeating something that you've already said, but we've heard these horrendous stories about family members going from hospital to hospital. I actually have a friend who's been to 13 different hospitals trying to find a loved one. Are you seeing people coming there expectantly to see if one of their own has been hurt? PALMER: We have indeed. We have seen many family members coming to this media pen that we have here, also coming to the patient information center that St. Vincent's has set up at 65 West 11th Street. They do have lists of people there.

The hospital spokesman telling us that people have also been relying on web sites which are not official web sites, don't necessarily have accurate information. He told us that the office of emergency management here in New York is working to put together a web site with patient information. But they are at the moment hampered by some concerns about confidentiality. They can't post all those names until they get the go-ahead from various legal authorities.

So we are seeing lots of people coming here, coming to the patient information centers. But what people are -- what these spokesmen are advising us is that they're advising people to go to the Lexington Avenue Armory, that really is the clearing house for the best information here in New York City.

ZAHN: All right, Brian Palmer, thanks so much for that report. Appreciate it.

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