New York bids to return to normal life

New York was tonight making a return to normal life, with Wall Street bustling and baseball back on.

But all was not the same in the city where smoke still rises from the site of the destroyed World Trade Centre and thousands have been bereaved by the tragedy.

Much of the city was open again for work, including most of the financial district, just yards away from the smouldering ruins of the once-proud twin towers.

But at the site of the rescue effort, already slim hopes were fading fast as the fifth day passed since a survivor had been found.

The total number of people reported missing was revised down to 4,957 but officials still believe the number will ultimately be higher, with the process of filing a missing report now taking more time, as police take DNA samples to help identify bodies.

A total of 190 bodies have now been recovered from the rubble, but rescuers coming from the scene said more body parts than bodies were now being found.

A new centre where families could report loved ones missing and receive grief counselling also got into action after the first building became too small to cope with the numbers of bereaved.

Thousands of rescuers were continuing their work at the scene of the attacks, while FBI officers were stepping up their efforts to find evidence amid the debris which will help in their hunt for the attackers’ backers.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is overseeing the rescue efforts along with city authorities, today said they expect the operation to clear the site to take ‘‘months’’, while it will be many more months before the FBI has sorted through every lorry-load for evidence.

Fears also remained about the safety of three buildings surrounding ground zero - the new name for the World Trade Centre - all of them partially damaged by the collapse, while fresh dangers emerged with the discovery that one building had dangerous levels of potentially deadly gas freon.

And a handful of funerals were being held for the few who have been found or the more than 100 who were declared dead on arrival at hospital, a sign of the thousands of funerals the city and greater New York can expect in the weeks to come.

Around the site streets had been hosed down to remove the dust and ash which showered the south of Manhattan and the vital subway services were rattling through the city as normal, moving millions of commuters who had stayed at home last week.

Some people made homeless when their apartments near the centre were damaged by the blast as it collapsed were allowed into their homes for 10 minutes to gather vital belongings, but no predictions have been made as to when they will be able to return home.

But parts of the transport system have been destroyed in the attacks on the twin towers, including a subway system which linked the World Trade Centre with New Jersey which firefighters have battled through to look for survivors.

There had been hope that the platforms under the centre would have held survivors, but rescuers who pushed their way through the flooded tunnels found no hope waiting for them.

Above ground, there was little sign of the devastation beyond the immediate area around ground zero.

But the National Guard was still on the streets of the south of the city and reminders of the emergency effort were everywhere, from lorries waiting to go into the site, to protective masks abandoned in bins after becoming choked with dust and potentially dangerous asbestos.

Outside the city’s fire stations, mounds of flowers, candles and thank-you cards were growing as people paid tribute to the men and women who have become heroes.

Few fire stations have escaped loss, with some mourning the loss of as many as 15 firefighters entombed in the towers when they collapsed.

The close-knit service still has more than 300 of its members missing, while bond firm Cantor Fitzgerald remains the worst affected of all, with more than 700 staff missing, presumed dead.

Despite the grief, New Yorkers were getting back to their favourite sport, with baseball resuming as the Mets take on the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Ironically, Pittsburgh is the nearest city to the site of the flight which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when the men on board voted to attack the hijackers.

There had been controversy over the decision to restart the baseball season, to be followed soon by football, but sporting officials said they had come under pressure from the White House to get back to normal.

And in the city, the first steps towards reconstruction also got under way, with more talk of how to rebuild the World Trade Centre.

A commission is to be formed later this week to look at reconstruction and Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, said they believed President George Bush would help in the effort.