Hopes fade for Irish victims
Seven days after the US atrocity, hopes are fading for up to 20 Irish people missing in the rubble of New York’s World Trade Centre.
Reports from the US suggest that the continuing rescue operation will soon be downgraded to a recovery operation.
New York’s Mayor Rudy Guiliani says he refused to give up hope that people will be pulled out alive.
Emergency teams are continuing to pick their way gingerly through thousands of tons of rubble but the chances of survival diminish with each passing hour. It is only a matter of hours before the rescue operation is called off.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish Consulate in New York are still working around the clock to try to ascertain how many Irish are missing in the disaster.
Four Irish have been confirmed dead and it is thought the final death toll will be as high as 20.
Many families of the missing have travelled to New York on resumed flights and are being comforted by our diplomats there. Nearly 6,000 people remain unaccounted for at the site of the World Trade Centre.
