posted
NBC was reporting earlier that there are about 100 deaths from the Pentagon attack. That is, as still, unconfirmed, but they did show the lawn of the Pentagon with bodies draped in white sheets. I counted about 30 in that one shot of film.
The World Trade Center is simply a graveyard now. About 200 firefighters trapped and buried when the two towers collapsed. The varying channels and online newswires are saying 100 to 200 police officers have also joined their comrades. NBC said earlier that at about the time the first plan hit, about 20,000 of the normal 50,000 workers are usually at work. They're also saying that the World Trade Center usually sees abour 90,000 visitors per day. Who knows how many tourists and delivery personnel, etc, were there at the time?
The last report I saw for the count of the wounded but living being transported to the local hospitals was at around 6:00 p.m. That stood at just under 1,000 people.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
posted
The body-count would've been higher if the strikes had happened around noon or so -- you'd have a full crowd of visitors, probably a lot of the employees there ... not to mention rush hour traffic to hamper emergency vehicles. Christ, what a mess.
posted
In my mind and trying to think through this, it seems to me that the terrorists wouldn't have been able to accomplish this any later in the day than early mid-morning. I know from experience that Houston's two major airports are horrendously busy from about 11:00 a.m. on. Assuming for an instant that this is also true for Logan, Newark, and Dulles airports, then the terrorists ran a greater risk of being caught before boarding the plane.
There also the matter of the planes usually being more heavily loaded during the afternoon flights. None of the hijacked planes had more than about 95 passengers. A fully loaded plane would have had several passengers probably attempt to attack the hijackers since they were armed only with knives.
I need to get out of here for a while. The more I see of the footage and the more I read of the stories is too much. This is too horribly sad to think about.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
posted
I just read Andrew's post, so I'll comment on that. I used to work in a 19-story dormitory that was a twin tower setup. Each tower housed approximately 550 students. For complex-wide fire drills and building evacuations, it took us around 6 minutes to dump 19 floors and 1200 students.
The World Trade Center's Twin Towers were each 110 floors high. 18 minutes would not be enough to dump the buildings. You must also remember that, at the same time occupants are running down the stairs, the firefighters and rescue squads are running up the stairs with equipment. Plus, the stairwells were dark, smokey, and wet (from the fire sprinkler systems). Total and complete chaos.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
posted
From an eye witness report, the 2nd tower was being evacuated, but then they received the all clear call, and some workers actually went BACK to their offices. Only 10 minutes after that did the plane hit that tower...
-------------------- "Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
-Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney, LeMans
Registered: Mar 1999
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Manji
Ex-Member
posted
I'm still in a state of shock over what has happened today, it just didn't feel real until I saw the footage on TV. As of 8:45pm the loss of life was estimated to be in the ten thousand's range. With over 250 firefighters and 200+ police officers missing. I think about it and frankly it scares me, people were calling this a second Pearl Harbor. We retaliated that by dropping two atomic weapons. What are we going to do this time....
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posted
Even after the first crash, people in the second building went back to work.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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posted
We dropped two atomic bombs because we were in a war with a nation which we could find easily. We knew EXACTLY who our enemy was from the get-go.
posted
The people had no idea in the lower levels of either building what happend til that second jetliner went crashing into the second tower. When I saw both towers fall, I thought that it was a clip from Armageddon. And to think that three out of four of them were due to arrive at LAX.
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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posted
And SWAT and Bomb Squad teams from the LAPD cleared and went through LAX bit by bit. I understand the FBI is standing by to execute search warrants in Dayton, Florida.
It's been a hell of a day. All the wild rumors:
Two planes at WTC ...
A plane at Camp David ... a plane down in PA ... a plane shot down by the Air Force ... a plane smashing into the Pentagon, a car bomb at the State Department.
Thank goodness things didn't turn out to be that bad ... although I am curious where the plane which crashed in PA was heading to (from Newark, it was heading southwest), and what its target was.
-------------------- "George Washington said, 'I cannot tell a lie.' Richard Nixon said, 'I cannot tell the truth.' Bill Clinton said, 'I cannot tell the difference.'"
-- comedian TOM SMOTHERS, from his latest stage act with brother DICK SMOTHERS.
posted
Thats not bad considering how many it would've been if the plane had crashed into a wing that wasn't under renovation and emptier then normal. Hopefully, many of them are alive and trapped inside the ruins.
[ September 11, 2001: Message edited by: MeGotBeer ]
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