Was it just my imagination, but didn’t Dan Rather say that the total missing and presumed dead were “13,000”? I have only read over 6,000. I did not tape this comment. Did anyone else hear him say that?
All kinds of numbers were flying around the first couple of days. The exact number will never be known. It may be a while before we even settle upon an “official” approximate.
I think insider was referring to a statement Rather made right before Bush’s address to the Joint Session of Congress. I heard him say the same thing, but I was channel-surfing, so I didn’t hear the context.
i believe he included injured in that total…
pver anything Dan says. He is not worth it.
I didn’t see Rather make the statement, so I don’t know whether it was misspoken or misheard, however:
In Mayor Giuliani’s press conference, this afternoon, he announced that as numbers have come in from foreign nations regarding people missing in the WTC, the number of reported missing is now 6300+ which, together with the 240+ known dead (recovered bodies), brings the probable death toll to over 6,500.
In addition, he noted that around 6,600 people have been treated for injuries (ranging from debris at the base of the WTC to smoke and dust inhalation and eye injuries even several blocks from the WTC).
The two figures, combined, would give us a “dead or injured” figure in excess of 13,000.