Ananova reports bodies of hijacker and stewardess found

September 13, 2001 12:57 PM

Ananova reports bodies of hijacker and stewardess found in the WTC wreckage. Does it seem that foreign news outlets are reporting stuff earlier than domestic ones to anyone else? And how could there be bodies still intact, so close to the point of impact?
posted by sugarfish (25 comments total)

I find this very hard to believe given the ferocity of the impact along with the massive amounts of burning jet fuel involved. However, stranger things have happened.
posted by MrBaliHai at 1:02 PM on September 13, 2001

Maybe I'm thinking of a different site, but is Ananova the most credible news source out there? I thought they were kind of sensationalist at best....?
posted by Johannahh at 1:05 PM on September 13, 2001

Wow. If true perhaps there is some hope of finding the cockpit voice recorder and other black box. My recollection is that they are at the back of the plane, so maybe not.
posted by daver at 1:08 PM on September 13, 2001

my reaction is: wtf?? mind you, if those people survived in the SUV, maybe this may have happened.. Something odd could have happened like the people flying through the windows or cracks in the plane immediately after impact?
posted by Mossy at 1:13 PM on September 13, 2001

You know, if Ananova is reporting it, but none of the other major news organizations are, this is a very suspect story. Ananova is NOT a credible news source.
posted by briank at 1:23 PM on September 13, 2001

Sure they are.

I've seen it on CNN, Fox News AND MSNBC in the last 30 minutes. Plainsclothes person found in cockpit of plane, flight attendant found tied up.
posted by glenwood at 1:27 PM on September 13, 2001

Ananova is NOT a credible news source.

Bollocks. Ananova is the Associated Press.
posted by holgate at 1:35 PM on September 13, 2001

Correction: they're the Press Association, the UK's leading press agency.
posted by holgate at 1:37 PM on September 13, 2001

could be reasonable. plane cockpits are usually decently well constructed, and might protect the contents of the plane from the debris falling from above. especially if it was the cockpit of the first plane, which would have to deal with fewer floors above it.
posted by mich9139 at 1:38 PM on September 13, 2001

The discoveries come after the Taliban regime in Afghanistan said prime suspect Osama bin Laden was innocent because the country had no facility to train pilots. The regime claimed a country that could train pilots was responsible.

Bad translation?

or death wish?
posted by xiffix at 1:41 PM on September 13, 2001

there were no firefighters saved from a buried SUV, they're saying now. this from the UPI wire [disclosure: i work for them] an hour ago---

"The New York Fire Department says reports of five firefighters trapped since Tuesday’s collapse of the World Trade Center being rescued alive Thursday are not true. Deputy Commissioner Frank Gribbon said, “There was no rescue of people trapped other than rescue workers. They were not people who were trapped in the original collapses."

No link at the moment, vny.com would have it but I can't reach that site right now.
posted by Sapphireblue at 1:49 PM on September 13, 2001

The Associated Press has not reported this story as of 16:33 EDT.

CNN does not include this story on their web news summary last dated 16:17 EDT.

Same for MSNBC, the BBC, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fox News.....

so I'm supposed to believe the press agency that has also reported such breaking news as the first monkey head transplant?
posted by briank at 1:55 PM on September 13, 2001

Sapphire, I don't doubt you, but that seems very odd. NPR has had very specific reports ... describing the communities the firefighters were from (not all are said to be NYC - some from other communities) and that they were taken to Bellview Hospital....
posted by anastasiav at 1:58 PM on September 13, 2001

CNN has it now too. 4:57 p.m. EDT.
posted by Sapphireblue at 2:05 PM on September 13, 2001

If by VNY you mean this, then no, they are not reporting it. Are you sure that this wasn't just a rumor running around your office, rather than something that actually went out on the wire?
posted by jaek at 2:06 PM on September 13, 2001

msnbc.com:
Before the evacuation, rescue crews were able to pull out six people — four firefighters, a sanitation worker and a volunteer worker — trapped since Tuesday. The rescues brought huge applause in a task so grim that many rescue workers were frequently in tears as they worked amid the wreckage of the trade center, saying they had never seen anything so horrible. ... Three of the survivors were able to walk away after the amazing rescue, the disaster command center said. All were taken to Bellevue Hospital. Reports that some had been found in a buried SUV were later retracted.

Perhaps this is what is being denied?
posted by anastasiav at 2:09 PM on September 13, 2001

Oops. Just saw on CNN that the firefighters were actually rescued, but that they had fallen into a pile of debris while searching for survivors, as opposed to being trapped in the initial collapse.

Sapphireblue - my apologies.
posted by jaek at 2:12 PM on September 13, 2001

Fox News had the stewardess/cockpit story running as a marquee on the bottom part of the screen. I haven't actually seen anyone reporting about this, though.
posted by KoPi_42 at 2:13 PM on September 13, 2001

The wire it went out on was the "spotlight" wire, one-sentence type briefs, and it looks like VNY only takes the full feeds ("usnews" is a different product).

but yeah, it did go out. the full text is what I pasted above.

Here's AP on the story via abcnews.com. It sounds close to what anastasiav posted, but also not exactly the same: "Fire Department Capt. Roger Sakowich said only two firefighters were rescued. "

(on preview: no sweat, jaek. as they say, 'i just work here.')
posted by Sapphireblue at 2:16 PM on September 13, 2001

Ananova is no longer owned by the Press Association, it is part of the France Telecom group. I suspect the stories are still PA reports, though I can't find any confirmation of that. Despite their tabloid presentation and "quirkies" section, the main news is generally reliable. Time will tell on this story.
posted by rbrwr at 2:19 PM on September 13, 2001

In circumstances like this, there is a natural urge by news sources to try to rush stories out, and inevitably some of them will later be retracted. It's important to use a grain or two of salt on the first reports of anything.

There is no chance whatever of anyone from either of the jets actually being recovered as whole corpses. As mentioned, even if they were not destroyed in the impact, they would have been incinerated in the resulting fire.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 2:23 PM on September 13, 2001

Foxnews reports it in this article:

http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,34305,00.html
posted by TiffanyRing at 2:31 PM on September 13, 2001

Steven Den Beste writes: "There is no chance whatever of anyone from either of the jets actually being recovered as whole corpses. As mentioned, even if they were not destroyed in the impact, they would have been incinerated in the resulting fire."

But then one might think that someone standing on the 80something-th floor of a collapsing world trade center would be dead for sure, but a New York cop survived that with minor leg injuries. I guess we shall see what we shall see.
posted by daragh at 3:19 PM on September 13, 2001

Duh???
posted by {savg*pncl} at 7:40 PM on September 13, 2001

{savg*pncl} writes: "Duh???"

Oh thanks for stopping by and contributing.

Duh was a very insightful remark.
posted by daragh at 6:38 AM on September 14, 2001