On-Scene Report from the Chaos

In the World Trader Center in New York that has been attacked by the two aircrafts hijacked by terrorists yesterday, the rescue requests by the cellular phones of the survivors who are confined in the ruin illuminate a little hope for the rescue. The witnesses from the spot vividly show the horror of the incidents.

·~Rudolf Giuliani, the mayor of New York City, revealed that the two police officers of the Maritime and Port Authority hosted in the World Trade Center were safely rescued. The Mayor also said that the people trapped in the ruin of the destroyed 110 story twin building are asking for the rescue by their cellular phone and they reported that there are some more survivors around them. A police sources also explained that the survivors had called 911 to inform their location.

·~Among hundreds of business that have lost their employees and properties, Morgan Stanley is estimated to suffer the most serious damage as a single business company. The Morgan Stanley rented one tenth of the two buildings and 3500 employees of the firm were reportedly working in the building. Philip Purcell CEO of the Morgan Stanley made an announcement and expressed his worries, saying ``we have lost contacts with the most employees, anticipating the worst case.`` In addition, since the financial companies including the Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, All State Insurance, Fuji Bank had occupied large space of the building, their damages are anticipated to be greater than others.

·~The World landmarks had also suffered the chaos by the potential threat of the terrorists. Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, the highest building in the world, evacuated 3000 residents of the building due to the potential threat of the bomb terror 12 hours after the collapse of the World Trade Center.

·~A Russian hospital also evacuated 1000 patients and employees by an anonymous phone call threatening a bomb attack yesterday.

·~By the simultaneous terrors in a short period of time, the major press often released wrong information, hardly following up the situation. CBS reported that `a truck loaded bombs enough to explode George Washington Bridge was arrested on the bridge` but it turned out to be false news. Furthermore, such misinformation that the Pentagon was attacked by a bombed vehicle and there was an explosion in the Capitol made the situation more complicated.

·~Shin Sang-Deok (35), the deputy chief of Dong-Wong Securities who was working on the 21st floor of the North building of the World Trade Center, said, ``the elevator was not operating, then I covered my mouth and nose with clothes and came out the building through the stairway. When I was looking up the flaming building, an airplane hit the South building and exploded. It was like a scene of a movie.`` He ran away to the Hudson Riverside to escape from the debris falling from the building and jumped in a boat ducked in there. ``The boat was full of the people including about 10 Koreans who tried to escape from the spot. They were all terrified.`` he said.

·~Kim Kyong-Ho, the hedge fund manager who just finished his meeting on the 48th floor of a building in the 40th Ave., Manhattan, which is 5 km away from the spot, witnessed the horrible incident. He said, ``On the screaming of the employees, I faced toward the Twin Building. The North building was already gulped in smoke. And then, all of a sudden, an airplane flew to the middle of the building and hit it.`` Mr. Kim said, ``when the North building was smoking, employees simply thought that it would be an accident and they were just looking around. However, once the second building was attacked, they all fell in the state of panic. Peoples were weeping here and there and some people were busy in calling to make sure the safety of their relatives.``

mickey@donga.com