Medical officials have identified the first victims from the World Trade Center attacks based solely on DNA matches, a process that has involved toothbrushes, hairbrushes and other belongings of those lost in the wreckage.
Eight people were identified after DNA evidence was compared with samples gathered from victims' families after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Tuesday.
Marion DeBlase, 44, whose husband James DeBlase, 45, was lost in the attack, gave officials his hairbrush and toothbrush.
The family also submitted cheek swabs from their three sons, and from James DeBlase's parents.
"You have to come to some kind of closure somehow as each day goes by, but it's very difficult to come to terms with it when you have nothing to hold on to," Marion DeBlase said.
She last spoke to her husband just after a hijacked airliner smashed into Tower One of the trade center, where he had worked on the 105th floor as a bond broker for Cantor Fitzgerald. The company lost nearly 700 employees in the attack.
DeBlase said her recent visit to the smoldering pile of debris did not give her hope that her husband's remains would be found.
"I assume that this is a very tedious and lengthy job, because especially if they're not finding whole persons," she said. "I would love to think that I would have something, but it's horrible to think that's the point we have come to."
City officials said Tuesday the number of missing stands at 4,339. Of the 478 people whose remains have been recovered, 425 have been identified.
Giuliani urged more relatives to submit DNA samples -- which city officials say eventually will dominate the identification process -- a 24-hour operation coordinated by the city medical examiner's office.
Hundreds of remains arrive at the office daily, each in a separate bag with its own number.
DNA is only used when no matches are made from other methods, such as fingerprints, dental records and surgical scars.
"We've gotten 2,600 samples, but we know that the numbers of people missing are closer to 5,000, so there are many more people that could submit DNA samples, if that's what they wanted to do," Giuliani said.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS