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No Hope of Survivors in Pentagon Attack
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
WASHINGTON -- No one who survived the impact and collapse of the
Pentagon in the area where a hijacked civilian airliner crashed into the
building could have survived the fire afterward, the Defense Department
said in a statement Wednesday.
The Pentagon has reported 800 are presumed dead and the building is
still on fire.
"Reconnaissance efforts conducted overnight indicate that there are no
survivors in the immediate collapsed area. Listening devices that have
been able to get in have proven negative, and it is doubtful that anyone
in the immediate impact area survived," the statement said.
Search-and-rescue operations are continuing, but they are stymied by at
least two fires on either side of the impact area. Firefighters are
directing hoses at the flames - manifested by great plumes of bitter
smoke - from the center courtyard of the Pentagon.
Rescue teams planned to use a wrecking ball in the collapsed area to
clear away unstable rubble, clearing the way for the Montgomery County
and Virginia Beach Urban Search and Rescue Teams to begin the search in
adjacent areas.
Arlington County firefighters and rescue teams have been directing the
recovery operation.
Dozens of body bags were stored on the grass surrounding a snack shop in
the Pentagon's center courtyard, a structure playfully known as "Ground
Zero," as it was long considered a high priority target point for Soviet
missiles.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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