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Home Front
Court declaring WTC missing dead
2001-10-03
  • SARA KUGLER : Associated Press Writer
    Three weeks after terrorists crashed jetliners into the Trade Center towers, Michael Rothberg and 40 co-workers from the bond trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald became the first among 5,219 people missing in the wake of the attack to be declared dead by a court. Seven hundred of Cantor Fitzgerald's employees haven't been heard from since the day of the attacks. All worked above the 100th floor of the first tower hit. "It's been three weeks and nobody from the firm got out," Iris Rothberg said Tuesday. She said her family asked a special state Supreme Court panel to clear the way for a death certificate.

    It's just a first step in dealing with a list of legal issues the family faces with her son's death, and it does nothing to lessen the pain.
    Giuliani said Tuesday that 1,202 families had applied for death certificates for loved ones among the missing.
    "The feeling is the same as the day it happened," she said. Once the health commissioner receives the court's report, he will issue a death certificate. The document, necessary for insurance benefits and to access bank accounts, normally take up to three years if there is no body, but officials have streamlined the process to help the families.

    Giuliani said Tuesday that 1,202 families had applied for death certificates for loved ones among the missing. Of the 363 people confirmed dead as of Wednesday, 301 have been identified. Officials expect it to take months to recover remains from the 1.2 million tons of rubble and say some of the victims may never be found.
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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