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Tunnel flooding hampers rescue effort

Rubble
Gray skies hung over the rubble in lower Manhattan on Friday.  


NEW YORK (CNN) -- Heavy flooding deterred rescue workers hoping to reach the World Trade Center through a New Jersey commuter tunnel.

Jersey City firefighters hoped to find survivors on the Trade Center's lower levels by approaching through a PATH train tunnel that runs underneath the Hudson River and comes up directly under what was tower No. 1.

But the New York side of the tunnel is lower than the mouth on the New Jersey side, and rescuers encountered water that grew deeper as they proceeded.

Fire officials are waiting to see if pumps can clear enough water -- presumed to have come from leaking or broken water mains and fire hoses -- to try again.

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The flooding is one of the many obstacles rescue workers continued to encounter. Early Friday, torrential downpours temporarily suspended the rescue efforts.

And while they continued to hold out hope that they would find people alive three days after the deadly attacks, rescue workers acknowledged time was running out.

"We've heard rumors of people hearing knocking and such things as that, but from where we were, we don't know," said Lou Ferarro, a volunteer rescue worker. "We've gotten to a point by hand where the next level is the heavy equipment."

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said 10,425 tons of debris had been removed from the site of the collapsed buildings so far. Firefighters said the rain washed away dust and lessened the smoke, but made the debris heavier to remove.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said "cutting-edge radio frequency sniffers" will be used to help track down victims -- and, officials hope, survivors. The agency is collecting cell phone and pager numbers from relatives and friends of those near or in the World Trade Center when the attack occurred.

Hopeful relatives and friends of those missing continued to gather at the Armory near Gramercy Park, where the city was registering missing persons and providing information.

Crowds of people gathered at Lexington Avenue and 26th Street, filling out missing persons reports and waiting for word on their loved ones. Homemade fliers with pictures of the missing were pasted on phone booths, bus shelters and building corners.

Officials with St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan said no more victims of the initial terrorist attacks had arrived at the hospital since Wednesday.

A phone number was set up for relatives of those that are hospitalized: (212) 560-2730.

Giuliani said it was unclear how many were missing. On Thursday, he said 4,763 people were missing but that the number could fluctuate.

"Of the 184 sets of human remains collected, 47 are entire bodies and 35 have been identified," he said. "In some cases, they can identify people, and in many, many cases at this point they cannot."

Larry Silverstein, who bought the World Trade Center for $3.2 billion in late July, said he would "love to build" the complex, his spokesman said. But spokesman Howard Rubenstein said Silverstein would need to talk to government officials before taking any action.

Hope dims for survivors at Pentagon

Meanwhile at the Pentagon, officials said the death toll has reached an estimated 190, including an Army three-star general.

The figure includes the 64 people on the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 that hit the Pentagon. The Defense Department is estimating that 126 Pentagon workers are still unaccounted for and believed dead in the aftermath of the terrorist attack.

Arlington County, Virginia, emergency officials said they are assuming no more survivors will be found in the wreckage.

"We are officially in a recovery mode at this particular time. The rescue workers obviously are still very hopeful. And we continue to want them to be hopeful," said Arlington County Fire Chief Ed Plaugher.

One-third of the building remains closed because of smoke and structural damage, and many workers will have to double up in offices.







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