World Trade Centre collapse probe launched

US government officials, flanked by mangled steel beams from New York’s World Trade Centre, today launched a two year probe into the collapse of the 110 storey twin towers.

The study, expected to eventually cost £16 million, will take a more detailed look at why the towers collapsed after terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners into them last September 11.

It is also expected to result in tougher building codes designed to make skyscrapers stronger.

”The bottom line is to make all buildings safer for occupants and for those who must respond to emergencies in these buildings,” said National Institute of Standards and Technology Director Arden Bement.

But the probe could be hampered by the Senate’s failure to pass legislation that would give federal building investigators subpoena power and other tools.

In the aftermath of the WTC collapse, investigators struggled to gain access to the site and to key documents, like blueprints. Institute officials said today they have been promised cooperation from local officials in conducting their probe. Its findings cannot be used in legal proceedings because it is not a regulatory agency, said Bement.

The probe is designed to be broader and more detailed than a study conducted by the American Society of Civil Engineers that determined that the twin towers could have survived the impact of the hijacked 767 airliners but fell victim to the ensuing fire that set office furniture and paper ablaze.

That intense fire caused the buildings’ steel columns to soften and buckle.