Twin tower victims 'buried alive'

The horrific last moments of many victims of the World Trade Center are being uncovered along with their bodies in the rubble of the twin towers.

Recovery teams have unearthed the remains of 13 people from what was once the lobby of one tower since New Year's Day, with reports that some seem to have been buried alive.

The dead, including 10 firemen, were discovered in pockets left by falling steel beams among the twisted metal and shattered concrete and were among the last to be overwhelmed as the buildings collapsed.

Two firemen were huddled together, apparently trying to shield themselves from the crashing debris. Workers say the many of the bodies found over the last 10 days may have survived the initial collapse.

One worker told yesterday's New York Post that: "You could tell they were suffering." Vito Messana added: "They were digging through the debris with their fingers."

Only a handful of people were pulled alive from the collapse of the towers, and then only in the first 48 hours after the disaster. Autopsies of the latest victims may reveal how long they survived under the rubble, but even if it was longer than a few minutes, there was never any hope of rescue.

The area under excavation once opened out onto the streets of Lower Manhattan, but was driven 30 feet into the basement by the weight and force of over hundredsof thousands of tons of debris. None of those found on New Year's Day have yet been officially identified, but the remains of 130 firemen out of 343 killed have now been recovered. Many more are likely to be found in the coming weeks.

Dozens of firemen remained behind in the burning building on the morning of the disaster, refusing to leave while office workers remained inside.

Others failed to hear an order to evacuate because of a problem with their shortwave radios, which do not work above the 65th floor in high-rise buildings.

Almost half the 1.2 million tons of rubble has now been removed from the site.

The official death toll stands at 2,936 in New York, with all but 593 of the victims still undiscovered.

Around 12,000 body parts are being stored at a temporary morgue, where DNA testing will be used in an attempt to trace them to victims.

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