The several thousand employees of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co and Cantor Fitzgerald LP made up about 10 percent of the workers at the World Trade Center.
Neither firm knows how many survived a terrorist attack that destroyed the 110-story twin towers.
PHOTO: AP
With fires hampering rescue efforts, some of the biggest US financial firms face the prospect of not knowing for some time how many of their workers perished in the biggest terrorist attack in US history. Bank of America Corp said it was looking for its workers "one by one." Investment bank Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc said more than 75 of its 170 employees in the buildings were unaccounted for.
AON Corp, an insurance broker and underwriter, said about 1,100 of its 50,000 employees worked in 2 World Trade Center, which collapsed after being hit by a hijacked airplane.
"In a very difficult and confused situation, we are doing all that we can to determine more about the situations of colleagues," Howard Lutnick, chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, said in a statement issued from the bond trading firm's London office.
Cantor Fitzgerald, which trades about a fourth of the US government bond market, had 1,000 employees in offices near the top of 1 World Trade Center.
Morgan Stanley, the second-largest securities firm, housed about 3,500 employees of its asset management and brokerage divisions at 2 World Trade Center.
"We have no idea" how many managed to escape, said Judy Hitchen, a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley. "We are working with local authorities." The firm employs 63,000 worldwide.
AON was in the process of trying to check on employees by calling their homes, said spokesman Stephen Ban. He said some have been found safe, but he declined to say more.
The company's offices were on the 92nd, and 98th to 105th floors of the building, he said. AON was the third-largest tenant at the World Trade Center, with some 43,165m2 of space.
The company, based in Chicago, said its New York offices will be closed until further notice. All other offices will be open this morning, the company said.
More than 40,000 people worked daily in the complex of seven buildings near the southern tip of Manhattan. There is no known death toll, though New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said "thousands and thousands" of people may have been killed.
Terrorists crashed two hijacked commercial airliners into the twin towers around 9am Tuesday, setting off explosions that led to the collapse of 2 World Trade, the south tower, at 10 am. The north tower, 1 World Trade, crumpled to the ground 28 minutes later.
Cantor and a sister company, eSpeed International, were based on floors 101, 103, 104 and 105 of the north tower. Morgan Stanley also had offices on upper floors, including 44, 60 and 72 of the south tower.
Morgan Stanley asked employees who worked in the building to call 1-888-883-4391 for information. The hotline was staffed by workers at one of the company's Discover credit card call centers.
Morgan Stanley has its headquarters on Broadway at 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.
Cantor and eSpeed asked that anyone who can confirm the safety of any of their employees call 212-704-8188. Relatives and friends of workers should call 866-326-3188 for information.
Bank of America, the No. 3 US bank and the sixth-largest tenant in the trade center, was the first new tenant in the complex after the 1993 terrorist bombing.
The Charlotte company occupied floors nine through 11 and 81 in the north tower, leasing 30,658m2 of space. Employees worked in about half that space, and the bank sublet the rest. Spokeswoman Jennifer Tice couldn't say how many employees worked at the site.
About 32 Japanese companies, including 19 financial institutions, were also tenants in the complex, according to Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mizuho Holdings Inc said it hasn't accounted for 532 of 1,491 employees there.
Credit Suisse Group said 800 employees were safely evacuated from an office building next to the World Trade Center towers.
The Credit Suisse First Boston employees worked at 5 World Trade Center on the northeast side of the seven-building complex. Credit Suisse First Boston's main offices are at 11 Madison Avenue in Manhattan.
Other firms with offices in the trade center, including OppenheimerFunds Inc, a money manager majority owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co, and the mutual fund arms of Citigroup Inc said their employees were safe and accounted for.
Joan Feldman, an employee of Keefe Bruyette & Woods, told WABC-TV that she was working on the 88th floor of 2 World Trade Center, and left immediately after the terrorist attack, ignoring an announcement over building loud-speakers telling workers to stay in their offices.
"I felt it was safer to leave," she said. "If I hadn't disregarded it, I would be dead."
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