Military

DATE=11-21-01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=WTC DEATH TOLL (L-O)

NUMBER=2-283412

BYLINE=ELAINE JOHANSON

DATELINE=NEW YORK

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The number of people listed as dead or missing in the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center in New York is falling sharply, as errors in the original count are being resolved. V-O-A correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from New York:

TEXT: The latest official count of the victims of the World Trade Center attack is said to be nearly three-thousand fewer than many had thought in the first weeks after the tragedy. The estimated toll had reached a high of 65-hundred.

The official tally now is under 39-hundred. City officials say it could fall further.

However, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says whatever the final count, the numbers are still devastating. So is the suffering, he says, of families torn apart by the tragedy:

///GIULIANI ACT///

A lot of people, and a lot of families, are in tremendous sorrow. And I don't know if we'll ever know exactly what the number is. The number is some horrible, horrific number.

///END ACT///

Mayor Giuliani says other than the possibility of duplicate names in the initial count, there is no reason to doubt the missing persons reports that the victims' loved ones have filed with the city.

///REST OPT///

More than three-thousand people are still unaccounted for. Over six-hundred bodies have been identified.

The final death toll, in any case, is likely to be higher than 24-hundred, the total number of Americans killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

The search operation at the site of the "twin towers" collapse in lower Manhattan continues over the Thanksgiving Day holiday (Thursday). Mayor Giuliani says the families of the missing deserve at least that much:

///GIULIANI ACT///

And I promised them that we would continue to work throughout to do the best that we can to recover the remains of their loved ones.

///END ACT///

The clean-up of the site also is moving forward. About 46-thousand truckloads of debris have been removed so far. The area is still smoldering, with contaminants from the decaying rubble still spewing into the surrounding air. (signed)

NEB/EJ/BJS/MAR