9/11 News Report on Salomon Brothers Building Collapse in New York

More on the latest building collapse in New York.

You might have heard a few moments ago, I was talking about the Salomon Brothers

building collapsing, and indeed it has.

Apparently, that's only a few hundred yards away from

where the World Trade

Center towers were. And it seems that this was not a result of a new

attack. It was because the, uh, building had been weakened, uh,

during, uh, this morning's attacks.

We'll probably find out more now about that from our correspondent, Jane

Stanley. Jane, what more can you tell us about the

Salomon Brothers building and

its collapse?

Well, only really what you already know. Details are very, very sketchy.

There's almost a sense downtown in, uh, New York

behind me, down by the World Trade Centers of, uh,

just an area

completely closed off as the rescue workers try to do their

job. But this isn't the first building that,

um, has suffered as a

result. We know that part of the Marriott Hotel

next to the

World Trade Center also collapsed as a result of this huge

amount of falling debris from a hundred and ten floors

of two, the two twin towers of the World Trade

Center.

As you can see behind me, the, uh, Trade Center appears to be

still burning. We see these huge clouds of smoke and

ash, and we know that behind that, there's an empty piece

of what was a very familiar New York skyline, a

symbol of the financial prosperity of this city.

But, uh, completely disappeared now, and New York is

still unable to take on board what has happened to them today.

Presumably, there were very few people in the Salomon

building when it collapsed.

I mean, th- there were, I suppose, fears of possible further collapses

around the area.

That's what you would hope, because this whole downtown area behind me

has been

completely sealed off and evacuated, apart from the

emergency workers. That was done by the Mayor Rudy Giuliani, uh,

much earlier today, uh, because of the, of course, the dreadful collapse of

the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

But, uh, New York, very much a city still in chaos.

The phones are not working properly.

The subway lines are not working properly.

And we know that down there, near the World Trade Center, there

are three

schools that, um, are being turned into triage centers

for emergency treatment. And I know that over in New York

Harbor, where the famous Statue of Liberty is,

there's a field hospital

where fifteen hundred people are being treated.

And we have heard, though it's unconfirmed as yet, that a

hundred New York City police officers have been taken there as

well for treatment. But we do need to confirm, uh,

those figures

for the officers.

It's now, what, some eight hours since the attacks.

Is there any estimate yet available of the number of casualties in

the World Trade Center?

I think we can only go at this point with the words expressed by the

mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, that it's too frightening to think

how many there could be. We know that, uh, it's about

almost three hundred people on the airliners that were used in these attacks.

But you've got to remember, this was nine o'clock in the morning on a

Tuesday

morning. It's busy in downtown Manhattan, in the financial district

there. And the World Trade Center itself has

fifty thousand workers.

There are tens of thousands of tourists who go up there every day.

The figures are almost too frightening to, to contemplate.

You can understand why nobody yet wants to put a figure on them.

Listening to the mayor, Rudy Giuliani, a bit earlier, uh, one of his

messages was, you know, business as usual.

You know, we won't let this get us down.

But presumably, a lot of Manhattan people must have, uh,

have fled the

city to Long Island to get away from possible further attacks?

Well, a lot of people were certainly trying to,

but you remember that very

early on, all the bridges and, uh, tunnels to the city, as

well as the airports, were closed.

New York was sealed, essentially.

Now, we do know that the Long Island Railroad

has become, begun running again to

get people out of the city if they can.

And people who can't manage to get out and perhaps lived in that area, they're

being offered accommodation in, uh, empty school buildings.

But, uh, certainly I saw earlier on today huge

crowds of people

desperately trying to walk up, uh, upper Manhattan to get as

far away as possible. Um, I think nobody really knows

how to go or where to go, and you, you have to remember even, even

now, I don't think people can sink-- it, it can sink in to people what's

happened.

We haven't for the past, uh, hour or so heard much from the people of

Manhattan.

You're with them there. I mean, what are they saying tonight after this

catastrophic attack?

As I said, many just cannot believe this has

happened.

And I've seen, you know, big, burly men and women with,

uh, you know, tears in their eyes today, shaking their heads,

wondering what on earth is going on.

There was a, a, a sense of panic. Our reports from the scene were,

uh, people just absolutely horrified.

And I've already seen some photographs of-- there's, uh, a man's walk

down in the, the downtown area, and it looks like the

aftermath of, of a huge atom bomb or something, just, just

full of debris and of, like a white carpeting of

snow from all the dust and rubbish that had fallen.

I don't think people can comprehend.

They certainly have lost any feeling of safety.

Um, there's still a great pride in the city.

People are determined to fought, to fight back.

But a great sense of shock and loss.

People keep looking at the sky, for example,

where you can see the plume of smoke,

and say, "When that's gone, it won't be there anymore.

Our Twin Towers won't be there," such a symbol of New York.

Are they talking yet about revenge and what the government should do to

counter this, uh, threat, or are they numb still?

I think people are still numb, and I don't think people are talking about

revenge in that way at all yet. I think people is,

are still too traumatized. They-- We don't

know how many people have been killed.

We, we, we can't even put a figure, I think, when you talk to people on,

on... They daren't even say how many people

might have been killed and injured.

And I think that feeling, that whole idea of the,

of the devastation,

people don't really know what to say or what to think.

I think they feel the bubble of their security, uh,

as, in being in America, has definitely been popped.

This city and this country will not be the same.

But they don't really know where to turn. And that's the very sad thing.

I think there's gonna be a lot of very, very traumatized people.

That, that has hit them very, very hard.

Jane, I think many of us when we heard the news,

perhaps on the radio earlier

today, were, uh, completely flabbergasted by

it and, and just couldn't un- comprehend it.

I mean, it was, it almost sounded too far-fetched.

Um, I was wondering what it's felt like for

you being in Manhattan.

Well, unfortunately, I think we've lost the line with, uh, Jane

Stanley in Manhattan. Perhaps we can rejoin her and follow

that up

later.

Across-