Rescue workers today zeroed in on the location of the black box from the
hijacked commercial airliner that slammed into the Pentagon Tuesday, as
military officials began the grim task of releasing the names of the 126
people working in and around the building who were killed in the terrorist
attack.
At area airports, the first passenger flights since Tuesday took off this afternoon,
after federal officials lifted the ban on civil aviation imposed in the
wake of the
terrorist attack in Washington and New York.
Delta Flight 5652 took off for Cincinnati shortly after 1 p.m. from
Dulles, carrying
14 passengers. Another Delta flight, Flight 731, left for Atlanta shortly after 4
p.m.,
carrying 62 passengers. Reagan National Airport remained closed today.
A federal official said it is "going to be a long time" before National
Airport reopens, citing the proximity of the airport to the White House,
Capitol and Pentagon.
Meanwhile, the state of emergency continues in the District, where a
flurry of bomb scares disrupted parts of the city today. Police shut down
additional roads near the White House and other downtown sections, snarling
traffic in the late afternoon. They also closed the Lincoln and Jefferson
memorials, the Ellipse and Lafayette Park.
In Maryland, Gov. Parris Glendening lifted the state of emergency that
had mobilized rescue workers, firefighters and the National Guard. He also
called for a minute of silence at noon tomorrow to remember victims of the
attack.
At the Pentagon, rescue workers were hopeful they were nearer to
finding the black box from American Airlines
Flight 77, which crashed into the building.
"We have ideas of where it is," said Bob Blecksmith, a top FBI
official.
As area hospitals treated dozens of people wounded in the attack, President Bush and his wife, Laura, visited Washington Hospital Center
this morning.
They met with eight victims of the Pentagon crash -- as well as the doctors and nurses treating them -- and Bush said he told them the
country is praying for "each and every one" of them.
Bush also declared a state of emergency in Virginia, which triggers federal aid for rescue and recovery efforts.
The White House said Bush authorized federal resources needed for human needs, health and safety, which "can range from the use of federal
personnel and equipment to provisions for medical and other emergency supplies."
A semblance of normal life returned to the region today, two days after terrorists staged a coordinated attack on the World Trade Center
in New York and the Pentagon, with hijacked airplanes as weapons.
Schools reopened, traffic jams reappeared, and Metro resumed full operation of its bus service for handicapped passengers and others
unable to use regular service.
But bomb scares cleared out the Pentagon for an hour this morning and were reported throughout the District. Boating restrictions remain in place on the Potomac River. And the National Football League's decision
to cancel Sunday games means that the Redskins will not play.
While rescue workers at the Pentagon said they are still working on a search and rescue mission and hopeful that they would find survivors, Arlington County fire chief Ed Plaugher said it is unlikely anyone is
still alive in the rubble at the Pentagon.
"As a practical matter we are working in a recovery mode," Plaugher said. "There has been no indication that there is anyone alive and we
have not heard anything. But there is still the possibility that there are people there and we will keep looking but in a recovery mission."
Rescue teams have completed grueling searches of the Pentagon's upper and below ground levels on each side of the impact area, finding
everything from complete pieces of office furniture to tiny fragments of airplane fuselage in the rubble.
"Obviously there is a lot of devastation," said Jeffrey Donaldson, deputy chief of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department who
finished up a 12-hour shift early this morning.
"There are wall collapses, ceiling collapses, debris of every shape and size and lots of water on the lower levels. We're still working and
searching some of the areas on the lower floors and are moving very cautiously because there's still the danger of collapse."
Crews have been spending much of today shoring up the sides of the
building to allow rescue workers to make their way into the impact zone
-- an area of several hundred feet where the airplane literally pancaked the office building into the ground. Fire and rescue officials
said it is likely that American Airlines flight 77's black box is submerged somewhere in that impact area.
Plaugher said crews believe they are close to finding the box but added that "being close doesn't necessarily mean that we can get to it
at this time."
Officials hope to be able to make a first attempt at searching the impact area some time tonight, although they want to be sure it is safe before going on. Using large pieces of timber three across, crews are constructing makeshift columns to replace support structures that were wiped out by the crash.
Structural engineers have been hoisted on cranes to evaluate the
structure's integrity and hope to make a decision later today about the
safety of the impact area.
The military service casualties are all Army and Navy personnel,
including both uniformed and civilian employees, according to Pentagon
officials. The Army is missing 21 military personnel, 47 civilian
employees and six contractors. The Navy is missing 33 military personnel
and nine civilian employees.
Also feared dead are 10 employees of defense agencies, including some
from the Defense Intelligence Agency. The dead also include construction
workers and other service workers not employed by the Pentagon.
There were an additional 64 people on board an American Airlines
plane when it smashed into the Pentagon, apparently piloted by terrorist
hijackers.
Pentagon officials say that although the number of 126 is not
expected to change significantly, they are finalizing the numbers, and
are uncertain about how many contractors are not accounted for. "We're
confident we don't have one hundred percent," a senior defense official
told The Washington Post.
Officials said the Pentagon returned to full operations this morning,
with all employees scheduled to work supposed to report for duty.
More corridors were open and power had been restored to more parts of
the building. But significant portions of the building on both sides of
the crash site on the west side of the Pentagon remain closed. In some
corridors, workers were walking through standing water that has
accumulated due to fire fighting efforts.
Outside, recovery efforts continued after being stopped for an hour
this morning because of a telephoned bomb threat.
Life resumed at local airports.
Atlantic Coast, Delta, United, Northwest, and TWA were to begin
limited service late in the day from Dulles.
At Baltimore Washington International, Simon Guteng of Jessup, Md.,
was among the passengers on the first flight in, a Delta flight from
Atlanta that landed at 2:45 p.m. "It feels so good to be back home," he
said. "I can't wait to see my family." Guteng, a professor at Galluadet
University in the District, flew to Atlanta Tuesday to connect to a
flight to South Africa for a conference. Instead he was stranded for two
days.
BWI officials did not know how many of BWI's usual 750 daily flights
would resume today. Three BWI carriers will not resume flights --
America West, Continental and Southwest, said John D. Porcari,
Maryland's secretary of transportation.
Federal and local aviation officials urged passengers to call their
airlines for flight information before coming to BWI. Travelers should
also get to the airport at least two hours before their flight is set to
leave and expect tighter security.
At Reagan National, stores were closed and corridors were empty
today. A few people came by to pick up baggage.
For the most part, according to Jonathan Gaffney, a spokesman for the
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, airport activity was limited
to new security provisions, such as training of airline personnel.
American University closed its campus, evacuating more than 10,000
students, faculty and staff, because of two bomb threats received early
this morning. The campus reopened at 1:30 p.m. after a police search
turned up nothing.
Police were on heightened alert today, responding to numerous reports
of suspicious packages, unattended or unmarked vehicles and bomb threats
throughout the District. National Guardsmen continued directing traffic
in busy intersections with their camouflaged Humvees as District police
patrolled the city, responding to scores of reports phoned in.
The roads leading to the District were intensely clogged this
morning, due to extra security measures at military bases and federal
buildings and rubbernecking around the Pentagon.
The morning rush hour lasted until about 11:30 a.m., surprising even
veteran traffic watchers. "I've never seen delays this bad," said Connie
Niebuhr of Smartraveler, the traffic information service.
Police were inspecting cars entering the parking garage at the
Ronald Reagan Building, which backed up traffic on 14th Street, across
the bridge and into Virginia. Tightened security around Fort Belvoir and
Fort Myer also created snarls.
"People are used to just flying through the gate, but they're
stopping everyone," Niebuhr said. "If you're going anywhere near a
federal building or military base, you're going to have to expect
delays."
And traffic was especially slow around the Pentagon, Niebuhr said. "A
lot of people stopped to look at the Pentagon," she said.
Baltimore's Inner Harbor and the section of the Potomac River north
of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge remained closed to boat traffic today.
Coast Guard officials said vessels would not be permitted to enter or
leave either zone without the authority of Baltimore's Coast Guard
captain.
In the District, there were special steps taken to comfort students
and teachers at three schools where students or teachers died in the
terrorist attack.
At Leckie Elementary School in Southwest Washington, about 50 parents
accompanied their children to classes Thursday morning, concerned about
how they would react after learning that one of their classmates and
teachers had died.
Grief counselors, top school administrators, D.C. school board
members, a D.C. council member and the head of the city's health
department went to Leckie. Teachers from other schools also arrived at
the three story tan brick school to help cover classes of devastated
teachers and to comfort students.
As the school day began, Principal Clementine Homesley assembled the
more than 400 students and explained what had happened. Most of the
students were quiet and showed little emotion. A few clung to teachers,
some of whom had teary eyes. A number of students had told them that
they wanted to stay home because they felt more safe there, parents
said.
Staff members and parents wore ribbons on their lapels featuring the
school colors, green and white. The school sign in front of the building
said: "Our Angelic Heroes Ms. Hilda Taylor," the name of the dead
teacher, and "Bernard Brown," the dead student.
Superintendent Paul L. Vance, who visited the three schools whose
students and teachers died, emerged from Leckie after spending time with
students.
"This is about as painful of an activity as I've ever had to engage
in in my life," Vance said, wearing a red paper heart on one lapel and a
green and white ribbon on the other. "The devastating impact of the
tragedy has set in on all of us."
He said that the "healing process has begun" but that "we're all
deeply engrossed in pain."
City and school officials, parents and neighborhood volunteers
descended on Ketcham Elementary in Anacostia this morning to comfort
staff and students who were mourning the loss of fifth grade teacher
James D. Debeuneure and sixth-grade student Rodney Dickens, 11.
The pair was aboard American Airlines Flight 77 with four other D.C.
students and teachers en route to a California field trip when it
crashed into the Pentagon Thursday.
Two American flags had been hung on the chainlink fence outside
Ketcham before students arrived at 8:30 a.m. Principal Romaine Thomas
and her aides distributed scores of hearts, cut from red construction
paper, to students and staff.
School officials tried to comfort students at back to back
assemblies, and grief counselors met with classes and individual
youngsters throughout the day to help them cope with their loss.
Myrna Shields, a sixth grade teacher whose class included Rodney and
eight other students who had been taught last year by Debeuneure, found
solace in the hope that Rodney was with a loved and trusted teacher
during his last moments.
"I know that when he realized what was happening, I know that he
embraced Rodney," Shields said, her eyes full. "I know that he was there
with him just like a father, and I know that he calmed him. I know
that."
"We are missing someone today. Do you know who that is?" teacher
Lizzie Jones asked her sixth grade language arts class at Backus Middle
School in Northeast Washington.
Some of the children raised their hands and said, "Yes, Asia."
They meant Asia Cottom, 12, who had been on American Airlines Flight
77 when terrorists seized it on Tuesday and rammed it into the Pentagon.
Cottom was on a school trip with veteran Backus teacher Sarah Clark, 65,
both of whom were mourned yesterday when school opened.
With some students learning today for the first time that a fellow
student and a teacher had died in the attack, teams of grief counselors
were sent to visit each classroom in the school.
A few children become overcome with grief, including one girl who
apparently passed out briefly, Principal Gary Washington said. The
children were calmed by guidance counselors.
At other school systems around the region, school teachers said they
struggled with how much of the attacks they should include in their
classroom work today -- particularly in the lower grades.
At Bethesda Elementary School in Montgomery County, principal
Michael Castagnola planned an impromptu "flag ceremony" for the close of
school where kids would sing and display the American flags they had
made in class that day.
"We're trying to bring some closure," he said.
An "unprecendented" armada of nearly 80 volunteer grief counselors,
organized by the school district and the Mental Health Association of
Montgomery County, fanned out to help students cope with their confusion
and grief as classes resumed in the county's 190 students.
Schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast sent a letter home to parents
had letter with tips on how to cope: that was translated into five
languages -- Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodian.
A number of churches scheduled memorial services today. Union Temple
in Washington planned a 7 p.m. service for D.C. children killed in
the terrorist attack. The 19th Street Baptist Church announced a service
for 7:30 p.m. tonight.
The D.C. Board of Education planned a 6 p.m. memorial service today
at National City Christian Church to celebrate the lives of the teachers
and students that were on Flight 77. Tomorrow, at noon, the church
scheduled a "Service of Prayer and Healing for the Nation" that is to
last 40 minutes so that working people could attend during lunch.
And B'nai Tzedek Congregation is hosting a vigil with other faiths at
congregations at 6:30 p.m. today at the Potomac Village Shopping Center.
Fairfax County churches have organized a large interfaith service for
6:30 p.m. tonight at the County Government Center.
Washington Post staff writers Justin Blum, Christian Davenport, Andrew
DeMillo, Stephen C. Fehr, Annie Gowen, Ann O'Hanlon, Hamil R. Harris,
Chris L. Jenkins, Lyndsey Layton, Ann O'Hanlon, Valerie Strauss and
Steve Vogel, Debbi Wilgoren, Timothy Wilson contributed to this story.
