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New tapes of Sept. 11 are released

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 17, 2006

NEW YORK - Trapped and running out of air on the smoky 83rd floor of the World Trade Center, Melissa Doi begged the 911 operator not to hang up.

"Can you stay on the line with me, please? I feel like I'm dying," Doi said.

The operator stayed on for 24 minutes, imploring Doi to keep breathing and praying, saying, "It's going to be fine" over and over, long after Doi had stopped talking.

Finally, the connection ended. "The line is now dead," one dispatcher said. "Oh my lord," said the operator.

Doi, a 32-year-old financial manager, died in the World Trade Center's south tower on Sept. 11, 2001. On Wednesday, her voice was heard as the city released new tapes of hundreds of heart-wrenching phone calls, along with other emergency transcripts.

The tapes recorded rescuers complaining about chaos in the twin towers. But they also evoked the firefighters' powerful sense of duty, with some struggling to evacuate the towers and others begging dispatchers to send them to the scene. A total of 343 firefighters died in the disaster.

The New York Times and relatives of Sept. 11 victims sued for release of the tapes.

One off-duty worker cried as she called in to try to report for duty.

"All those people - what about the EMTs and paramedics and firefighters in there helping people get out?" she asked her supervisor.

"I don't know, sweetie, I really don't know."

"Oh God."

[Last modified August 17, 2006, 01:24:24]