Recovery crews closed in yesterday on a flight recorder from the American Airlines jet that plunged into the Pentagon after it was hijacked from Dulles International Airport, and investigators interviewed witnesses and collected evidence from both the airport and the crash site.
FBI officials said most of the hijackers who commandeered four jetliners on Tuesday that crashed into the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and a field in Pennsylvania have now been identified. Although no one had been detained in connection with the crash at the Pentagon, law enforcement sources said investigators were significantly closer to tracking the Dulles hijackers and some associates.
_____Pentagon Aftermath_____
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Slow, Grim Work at the Pentagon (The Washington Post, Sep 13, 2001)
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Helping and Hoping, a Man Resolves to Rescue His Wife (The Washington Post, Sep 13, 2001)
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Bid to Thwart Hijackers May Have Led to Pa. Crash (The Washington Post, Sep 13, 2001)
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Flight 77: Hope Replaced by Grief (The Washington Post, Sep 13, 2001)
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Rescuers Toil While Families Weep and Wait (The Washington Post, Sep 13, 2001)
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Defiant Workers Return to Posts At the Pentagon (The Washington Post, Sep 13, 2001)
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Patriotic Fervor Fuels Blood Donations, Military Recruiting (The Washington Post, Sep 13, 2001)
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A Day of Courage, Patriotism, Anxiety (The Washington Post, Sep 13, 2001)
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Anguish Gives Way To Stubborn Rage; Muslim Community Reports Threats (The Washington Post, Sep 13, 2001)
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FBI investigators sought information yesterday from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and several large Internet service providers, including America Online. They also searched at least one Northern Virginia location near the airportand questioned managers at a Centreville hotel, sources said.
Fire marshals said they are closing in on a flight recorder from doomed American Flight 77, and investigators are hopeful the so-called black box will yield valuable information about what went on aboard the plane.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth Melson said he and the office's emergency team had worked through the night to help investigators track down leads and prepare for criminal prosecutions.
"This office is outraged at the senseless loss of life caused by these terrorists, and we pledge to do everything in our power to ferret out those responsible," he said. "We're working on the national investigation, but we have a personal interest in the crime scene because it's in our back yard."
Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said authorities have determined that each aircraft was hijacked by three to six individuals using knives and box-cutters. He said that investigators are obtaining "passenger manifests, rental car receipts, telephone logs, videotape from parking garages and pay telephone records" at each airport used by the hijackers and that they will conduct follow-up interviews with witnesses.
At the Pentagon yesterday, the search for evidence intensified, as hundreds of Arlington police officers, FBI agents and National Transportation Safety Board investigators combed the ground for anything that might be relevant.
Most of the search was focused outside the building, and it could take four to 10 days to get to the heart of the rubble because the area must first be stabilized, said Arlington Chief Fire Marshal Shawn S. Kelley.
Searchers have made finding the flight recorder a top priority. "They have a fair idea of where the black box may be, and they're going to try to go get it," Kelley said.
Twenty Arlington officers were acting as evidence technicians, walking in wide sweeps around the building. They gathered evidence in brown paper bags. In some cases, they alerted federal investigators to evidence that needed to be photographed on location.
Cpl. Brian Mangione said he and other searchers were finding shoes, parts of the plane, pieces of glass and human tissue.
Arlington Police Chief Edward A. Flynn said NTSB and FBI investigators are sorting the evidence, with transportation officials taking charge of the airplane parts and the FBI focusing on debris that could explain what happened aboard the jet.
Flynn said that the investigators and officers are holding up well but that the gathering of evidence could last a week or more.
At Dulles, about 100 passengers who were stranded Tuesday when the airport shut down were allowed to get their baggage about 3 p.m. and were each interviewed by a federal agent.
The agents asked about travel plans and whether they had seen anything unusual. The interviews lasted about three to five minutes each, and the agents checked identification and asked where the passengers were going, what time they had been in the airport and if they had seen anything suspicious.
When the passengers left, the agents dusted the American Airlines ticket counters for evidence and placed small items in plastic bags. They declined to discuss the evidence.
