The Pentagon suffered well over $100 million in damage from Tuesday's attack and will require years to repair, defense officials said yesterday.
Even as the military began to think about the cost of the physical damage, search and rescue squads continued to delve into the impact zone, their need to prop up the damaged structure acting as a counterweight to the urgency of their long-odds hunt for survivors.
Hundreds of rescue workers, soldiers and support personnel kept up a determined pace. Piles of timber and large cranes framed the gaping hole and charred facade. A single tree, blackened on one side but green on the other, stood frozen in time a few feet from the wreckage.
Despite the enormous damage, Pentagon officials spoke admiringly of the resilience of the 6 million-square-foot building, which was erected in just 16 months during World War II.
"We took a big hit, but two-thirds of the building is operating in a normal manner," John F. Irby, the Pentagon facility manager, said yesterday.
"The Pentagon is an amazing building," he added. "You develop a warmth and affection for its capabilities. You just learn to love this building like a sailor loves his ship."
Also yesterday, officials lowered, by one, their count of Pentagon workers who are missing since the attack. They said they had mistakenly included one passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, Bryan C. Jack, on a second list of missing defense agency employees. They now say 189 remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead: 125 Pentagon workers and 64 passengers on the jet that slammed into the Pentagon on Tuesday.
It was too early for specific cost assessments and rebuilding plans. The ugly black gash in the west wall, 75 to 100 feet wide, will almost certainly widen as weakened areas nearby are razed.
The cost, Irby predicted, will be "more than $100 million, by a long shot." He said he couldn't be more precise but added that it would be "less than $1 billion."
Crowds of Pentagon employees gathered yesterday for ecumenical prayer services in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack.
Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, Army chief of staff, later told reporters, "We're in pain, and also angry."
Arlington Fire Chief Edward P. Plaugher said that investigators had located "a round section within the interior of the Pentagon that is the exact same shape as the fuselage of a jet. It's very obvious that is exactly where the remains of the craft are, and the sections that are left are not huge, but they can be identified."
Asked whether any part of the fuselage is intact, Plaugher replied, "Nothing is intact."
Rescue officials said that they had not given up hope of finding survivors but that no sign of life had been detected. "We are not finding any live victims at this point," said Tom Carr, assistant chief of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.
James H. Schwartz, assistant Arlington fire chief, said the areas of the collapsed building that are most difficult for rescuers to reach offer the greatest potential for finding survivors. "Thousands of people involved in the rescue remain optimistic," he said.
Brief flare-ups of fire like one Thursday night, which sent flames along the roof, could be a recurring problem. Schwartz said the Thursday incident was caused by hot spots trapped in the debris that ignited fuel or vapors.
The damage and loss of life at the Pentagon might have been even more extensive, Irby said, if the plane had hit a different part of the building. The damaged section had recently been renovated and structurally reinforced after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
"It's safe to say we did survive it better because of some of the features we added," Irby said.
The damage also was contained, he said, because Pentagon mechanics and engineers stayed at their posts to shut down water and electrical systems in some parts of the building as it was being evacuated after reports of another incoming plane.
"Many of our mechanics stayed in the building, even though we were concerned about aircraft coming in," Irby said. Their actions kept water pressure high enough that firefighters could attack the blaze.
Soldiers are trying to retrieve computers and documents containing potentially sensitive information from the damaged section of the building.
About 250 workers are cleaning up soot damage, which is particularly bad on upper floors. But the biggest concern is water damage, evident in about one-third of the building.
The recovery work is not only grueling but also emotional.
"It shows us our own mortality," said Army Spec. John Trotter, 21. "It shows that we all need to be prepared for this kind of thing to happen."
At midday, a small group of people gathered on a hill overlooking the Pentagon to lay about 200 yellow roses in remembrance of the victims. One man rested a large American flag against a lone tree. A hand-lettered sign hanging on a nearby fence read: "We are America. We are Free. We are not afraid. God Bless America."
