Tourists drawn to Trade Center site by morbid attraction

New York's crowded footpaths have become more congested by those who want a memento, writes STEVE BOGGAN.

About 6000 bodies lie beneath the rubble and on Thursday, when the wind blew from a certain direction, there was an uncomfortably sweet smell from it, but that has not stopped the ruins of the World Trade Center from becoming a morbid tourist attraction.

Welcome to Rubbernecker Central, the perimeter around the scene of the worst terrorist atrocity in United States history. Here, people stop, gape, take pictures and pick up rubble as a souvenir.

The barriers in the Wall St district of New York have, by necessity, retreated to a point where the mangled wreckage of the towers is painfully visible, their jagged cladding rising from the ground like bad sculpture. As a result, some New Yorkers are seeing the wreckage for the first time; they stop dead in their tracks, some burst into tears while others, usually tourists, pose with the smoking mound as a backdrop.

Congestion is worst at the junction of Broadway and Liberty, a stone's throw from the New York Stock Exchange. Here, legions of police officers have to yell to keep pedestrians moving, but it is an impossible task.

"It's just human nature, but we can't let it turn into a mob thing," said Detective David Guevara, one of the officers trying to police the scene.

"Everybody wants a picture, but we can't let this area clog up with people. If someone shouted that a building was toppling, people would run, and some would be trampled."

That did not seem to bother those who simply would not move until they had the shot they wanted.

"I got shoved out of the way by a cop and all I was doing was taking a picture," said one tourist, Eric Larssen, from Stockholm.

"This is the biggest event in our lifetimes. It's only natural that people would want to see it for themselves. Is it a tourist attraction? Yes, I suppose it is, the way the grassy knoll is in Dallas or Pompei in Italy. They will build a shrine of some sort and that will become a tourist attraction. I suppose the problem here is that we arrived too soon."

It is understandable that New Yorkers should want to stare incredulously at the space that used to be filled by two the landmarks by which they navigated their city. But some tourists' behaviour lacks decorum or respect. One young foreign holidaymaker jumped over a barrier, grabbed a piece of concrete and ran off. Two Asian girls posed in front of the rubble, smiling, while a third took their picture.

"It really isn't too good - there are still thousands of bodies under there," said Vincent Lupoli, a security guard based nearby. "They're constantly trying to get emergency vehicles down here but the rubberneckers are getting in the way."

For others, visiting the site is a catharsis. One, a 25-year-old messenger who declined to give his name, was visibly shaken as he took his pictures.

"We had clients in those buildings - I regularly deliver there," he said. "What if I'd been in when the jets hit? Would I have got out? It could so easily be me under there instead of someone else. I keep looking over my shoulder; everything makes me feel nervous."

Even so, local shopkeepers say the presence of the tourists doesn't make up for the business lost because of the absence of thousands of city workers. Only one, who sold disposable cameras, said business was good, but he did not want to be accused of profiteering.

Others are not so coy. Locals talk of hawkers in Chinatown selling pictures of the impact of the planes into the towers; they were arrested after passers-by complained to police.

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