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President Bush addresses firefighters and rescue workers with retired firefighter Bob Beckwith from Ladder 117 at the scene of the World Trade Center
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Recovery crews continue to dig through the wet rubble of the World Trade Center (WTC) in the grim search for thousands of victims. Earlier, President George W. Bush made his first visit to the site since the two hijacked planes destroyed the building.
A downpour and a stiff wind slowed the recovery effort through the morning and afternoon but that did not stop the search for possible survivors or extinguish hopes of finding someone alive.
"There is a lot of hope there are still people alive, an emergency medical" worker said. "There are a lot of voids that they could be in," he added.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani also said there was still strong hope people might be found alive.
At the mountain of crushed concrete, twisted steel and broken glass that covers the area where the WTC stood, recovery workers cheered the president and chanted USA! USA!
Mr Bush took a helicopter tour of the blasted-out site with Mayor Giuliani and Gov George Pataki. He surveyed the wreckage from the air and after landing, was driven in a convoy of vehicles to the area that has become known as ground zero.
Under grey skies, recovery crews near the site stood and watched the convoy escorting Bush, whose visit was intended to lift morale there and throughout the city. Residents have been shaken by the disaster but were determined to recover from the atrocity.
President Bush talked to recovery workers who thronged around him and raised his right arm, giving a thumbs up sign.
"The nation sends its love and compassion," Mr Bush said through a megaphone to the workers. "Thank you for your hard work and thank you for making the nation proud and may God bless America."
Countless husbands, wives, children, brothers and sisters visited New York hospitals and makeshift crisis centers hoping to find missing loved ones. The relatives of likely victims made tearful appeals on TV and radio and appealed to anyone who might have information about them.
Posters bearing photographs of possible victims have been plastered on telephone booths, cars, mailboxes and on the walls at the main family crisis center on Manhattan's East Side.
"It's not knowing that's the hardest part," said red-eyed Mr Ed Kearns (40) his New York Yankees cap pulled low over his forehead. He was waiting at the center for word and clinging to hope his wife, Ms Donna Bernaerts Kearns (44) was still live.
City officials do not have an update of the number of missing, but say between 4,200 and 4,300 people had been treated in New York and New Jersey hospitals. Mr Giuliani said last evening that the list of those missing numbered 4,763, while bodies recovered numbered 184 with 35 victims identified.
Officials at Bellevue Hospital said no victims of the attack had been brought in for about 36 hours. "The patients we're bringing in now are all rescue workers," a hospital official said. Another official said victims can't get the incident out of their minds.
Major Wall Street firms had floors of trading desks, investment banking operations, research and support staff in the buildings and they have lost many employees.
Many people living below 14th Street in lower Manhattan also have not been able to return to their homes.
Churches held vigils and prayer services on a day declared as a national day of remembrance for the victims. US flags were displayed in front of homes and businesses and on the giant screen in Times Square.