Tragic convoy helps lift burden of grief

By STEVE BOGGAN

NEW YORK - "I had a body in my truck the other day," says the driver, staring at the horizon. "I didn't know until I emptied the back, but there it was. I don't know if it was a man or a woman. It was too mangled."

This is Fresh Kills, the unfortunately named landfill site receiving the detritus of the World Trade Center, its steel, concrete, glass and brick. And what is left of the people who worked there.

All day, every day since the twin towers collapsed on September 11, trucks have been ferrying rubble the 50km from lower Manhattan to this 1200ha waste site on Staten Island.

About 1000 runs have been made so far; about 200,000 will be needed.

Driving these rigs is taking its toll on ordinary men who have had no training in death.

"I try not to think about it too much," said the driver who found the body. "I try not to look over my shoulder. It's important that we get on and clear up and start all over again, so I know it's worthwhile. But the idea that I got dead people in the back, or parts of dead people, is driving me crazy.

"I can't watch television any more. I go down to the site and I try not to see too much but you can't help it.

"I think I'm OK, but we've been told we can have counselling if we feel we need it."

The fact that an entire body was found is further evidence of what Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been reluctant to say so far - that this is no longer a rescue operation. If it were, more care would have been taken in scooping away the rubble.



For some of the drivers, talking about the job seems to help.

"I've been lucky," said one driver in a large Mack rig. "But one of the guys had an arm with a watch still attached to it last week. What can you say?

"The way I deal with it is by thinking that for every body part we bring here, there can be an identification and someone's poor relatives can at least get confirmation that this guy or this woman is dead."

Fresh Kills derives its name from the waterways and channels around it. Kil is a Dutch word for channel or stream. It was closed last year but reopened to deal with this disaster.

Police have cordoned off the compound, but up to 800 people are reported to be involved in sifting the loads. They include FBI agents in white overalls, purple respirators and yellow boots. They have found firefighters' helmets, police guns, compacted cars and even severed heads.

"I had a foot in a load the other day," said one trucker. "It's freaking some of the guys out, but it doesn't bother me. It's just another job. You try not to think about it too much, you go home, hug your wife, your kids and you feel better.

"Everybody is saying we gotta get back to normal. Well you can't do that until you clear up the mess those bastards left behind. That's the way that I look at it. I'm one of the guys getting us back on our feet. If it means I got a dead body in the back, then I'll carry a dead body. Period."

No one inside the compound would talk about their job. They work their 12-hour shifts in silence. There is no laughter here, no one cheering from the sidelines, no restaurants turning up to hand out free food. There is just a job that has to be done out of sight. In New York, the mayor's office said the number of those missing in the wreckage of the World Trade Center's twin towers had risen to 6453, up 120 from the previous toll amid continued checks of lists of those unaccounted for.

At ground zero, the fallen towers of the center have become a tragic tourist attraction. At the intersection of Ann Street and Park Row, where you get your first glimpse of the wreck, they stand on tiptoe, seeking the best angle for a photo.

A burned-out building is framed by a church and a truck, but it is too distant for a clear shot, and this is no place to hang around. The police tell the tourists to move on, "for security reasons", and the crowd contracts and heads in the direction of Nassau St.

A group of French New Yorkers stood astounded at the sight. One of them, financial analyst Olivier Philippart, pointed to the gap in the cityscape where the 110-storey twin towers stood.

"It's incredible. I used to go to The World of Golf shop," he said. "Right next door was Century 21 where you could buy clothes. I went past the Trade Center every morning. I used to take the Path Train underneath the centre to go to New Jersey. There are probably people still down there," he added.

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