Up to 5,000 feared missing at Trade Centre

The total number of people officially missing in the wreckage of the World Trade Centre has climbed to almost 5,000 this evening…

The total number of people officially missing in the wreckage of the World Trade Centre has climbed to almost 5,000 this evening.

At the rescue site, thousands of workers are continuing to remove rubble in the search for survivors. No-one has been pulled alive from the wreckage since Thursday.

The city's police commissioner says 152 bodies have been recovered, of which 92 have been positively identified.

Among those identified are fire department chaplain Father Mychal Judge, who was reportedly killed when a person who leapt from one of the towers hit by the hijacked airliners landed on him.

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Commissioner Bernard Kerick says the number of people reported missing has now reached 4,972. More than 2,300 have been confirmed as injured after a request for New York hospitals to compile the numbers of those treated, while those missing include 300 firefighters.

More than 13,000 tonnes of debris has been removed from the site and transported to a dump where FBI agents sorting them for clues.

The response of volunteers has been overwhelming, with some having driven for hours to get to Manhattan. Police asked many to go home, as no more were needed.

Fears that other buildings will collapse remain, although there is confidence they will remain standing long enough for the rescue effort to be completed before engineers consider demolition.

Firefighters have struggled through flooded railway tunnels under the Hudson River to try to reach subway platforms and see if any have survived underneath the building, while hi-tech listening devices which can detect mobile phones and pagers have been deployed.

The area open to New Yorkers around the site has been extended, but security in the evacuated zone has been increased after a burglary and an attempt to steal a fireman's jacket, police say.

PA