As part
of its building and fire safety
investigation of the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster,
the Commerce Department’s
National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) today released an interim analysis
of the location of the 2,749 victims that classifies the decedents
as being at/above or below the floors of impact and specifies
the number of victims found in each of the WTC towers. The
analysis categorizes all names provided by the City of New
York as decedents. It also identifies types of first responders
who perished in the disaster. The analysis does not specify
the names or exact locations of decedents.
Knowing
the location of victims assists NIST in better understanding
occupant behavior, evacuation and emergency response operations
after terrorists flew two aircraft into the WTC towers, including
the effects of aircraft impact, ensuing fires and overall
building collapse. It also helps NIST to recommend possible
changes in building design, construction, maintenance and
operation that would improve the safety of occupants and first
responders.
To identify
locations, NIST relied on more than 300 face-to-face interviews
and 800 telephone surveys, various Web sites maintained by
survivors or victims’ families and colleagues, several
media outlets’ reports, and a badge list maintained
by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The table
below shows the initial results of that analysis. The information
may change as new information becomes available during the
NIST investigation.
Location
|
Estimated
Number of Decedents |
World
Trade Center 1 Occupants |
1,466 |
At
or Above Impact
|
1,356 |
Below
Impact
|
110 |
World
Trade Center 2 Occupants |
624 |
At
or Above Impact
|
618 |
Below
Impact
|
6 |
Reported
Below Impact in WTC 1 or WTC 2 (Building uncertain) |
30 |
Unknown
Building and Location Inside WTC 1 or WTC 2 |
26 |
First
Responders (Total) |
421 |
New
York City Fire Department
|
343 |
New
York City Police Department
|
23 |
Port
Authority Police
|
37 |
Hospital/Paramedic
|
7 |
Federal
|
2 |
Other
|
9 |
Bystander/Nearby
Building Occupant |
18 |
American
Flight 11 |
87 |
United
Flight 175 |
60 |
No
Information |
17 |
Total
|
2,749 |
The total
number of people below the floors of impact was 110 (WTC 1)
+ 6 (WTC 2) + 30 (WTC 1 or 2) + (maybe 26; unknown in building)
+ (maybe 17; no information) + 421 first responders = 567
to 610.
The total
number above the floors of impact was 1,356 (WTC 1) + 618
(WTC 2) + (maybe 26; unknown in building) + (maybe 17; no
information) = 1,974 to 2,017.
The total
number of plane passengers and crew was 147 (plus 10 hijackers).
Additionally, there were 18 people (non-WTC occupants) killed
outside the building by debris and jet fuel.
Background
The NIST
analysis categorized all names provided by the City of New
York as being a recognized WTC decedent. The following sources
then were used to categorize decedent locations:
- More
than 300 face-to-face interviews and 800 telephone surveys
conducted as part of the NIST investigation.
- September11Victims.com.
This site is dedicated to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001,
tragedy.
- Portraits:
9/11/01. Published by the New York Times in 2003, this book
includes short interviews with family members of many decedents.
- CNN.com
In-Depth Special (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/index.html).
Tribute site for people to write remembrances of decedents.
- Badge
list maintained by the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey, which includes name, employer, building and floor
for all occupants with badge-access to WTC 1 or WTC 2.
- Numerous
memorial sites maintained by companies and organizations
that lost employees, which include names and remembrances
of decedents.
- Newsday.com,
which includes short stories written about specific decedents.
A number
of assumptions were made while developing this analysis. These
assumptions are:
- Location
refers to the assumed area where an individual perished.
The employer and floor number were the primary modes for
determining location. An employee of Cantor Fitzgerald,
for example, would be assumed to have died above the floors
of impact in WTC 1. Often, information about the exact nature
of death was available from an aforementioned source, and
that information was used to categorize individuals. The
18 documented bystanders, in particular, required additional
information in order to be categorized.
- There
were 30 individuals who were known to have been below the
floors of impact, but for whom we could not determine where
they were at the time of their death. Largely, these individuals
were security guards and fire safety staff who were observed
performing activities below the floors of impact after airplane
impact.
- There
were 26 individuals who were likely in either WTC 1 or WTC
2, but for whom no clarifying information could be uncovered
indicating whether they were above or below floors of impact.
Their occupations largely were maintenance, janitor, delivery,
safety or security functions.
- First
responders were defined to be people who arrived at the
site from another location; thus, security staff and Port
Authority staff (different from PA Police Officers) were
not defined to be first responders.
- No
information could be determined for 17 individuals.
-
30 -
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