A police officer was pulled from the steel and glass wreckage of the World Trade Center yesterday and the New York Mayor, Mr Rudolph Giuliani, said rescue workers were scrambling to save others trapped in the rubble. However after he spoke, the collapse of what remained of the World Trade Centre late last night appeared to dash hopes of finding further survivors.
Some did escape. Ms Marlene Cruz, from New Jersey was pulled from the building having been stuck in an elevator when the building collased.
Hundreds of emergency workers using scent-sniffing search dogs and construction equipment to remove tonnes of smoldering debris, later rescued a Port Authority policeman from the destruction of the city's once-mighty symbols of financial power. The policeman was listed in critical condition at a hospital.
Two other officers were rescued late on Tuesday after hijackers slammed planes into the twin towers as part of a coordinated strike that also left the Pentagon near Washington in flames, officials said.