Excerpts from transcripts of emergency calls and radio transmissions made on Sept. 11, 2001, released by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Thursday:
A Port Authority police officer named Tommy telephones his mother and tells her to stay home because more planes might attack:
Tommy, whispering as he punches numbers into a phone: Let this be the (inaudible). (Expletive!) (Ringing noise heard) Come on.
Tommy's mother: Hello?
Tommy: Hey, Ma.
Mother: Are you OK?
Tommy: Yeah, I'm at work. Just stay in. Don't do nothing. There's ... this is bad. They got planes all over the radar, coming into the New York area. They think everything is going to start hitting.
Mother: Oh, Tommy, please promise you'll call me again!
Tommy: Right, Ma, it's going to be a while, all right? But just don't even go out. I mean, they got planes on the radar. They think they are going to start crashing all over Manhattan.
Mother: Keep a mask on, keep (overlap)
Tommy: I'll call you later.
———
A woman calls to see if her husband, an officer who told her he was going up the stairs at the trade center, is all right after one of the towers collapses. He died:
Sgt. Holland: Port Authority Police, Sergeant Holland.
Jeannie McIntyre: Yes, Sergeant Holland, this is Jeannie McIntyre. Is my husband in that building that just collapsed?
Holland: Yeah, we heard from him. There's ... none of ... none of our guys are hurt and injured right now.
McIntyre: He was going up.
Holland: Yeah, I know. But it's ... we, none of our ... none of our people were injured.
McIntyre: Are you sure? Because he was going up the stairs. He told me. (upset)
Holland: I understand. We don't have ... we don't have any reports of any ... of any of our people injured. All right? I ... I understand, it's going to be awful, you know.
———
Conversation between a Port Authority police officer at the trade center, calling to see if another officer is on his way to the scene, and the other officer's mother:
Woman: Hello?
Officer Tommy Cashin: Hi, this is Port Authority police. Officer Trubador, please?
Woman: Oh, yes. Oh, God, I'm sorry, I'm Steven's mother. I thought he'd be (inaudible) there. I'm frantic. The Pentagon exploded.
Cashin: No!
Woman: Yes, it ... . I just saw it about five, 10 minutes ago. The Pentagon exploded by another plane.
Cashin: OK.
Woman: Oh, my God. Steven is gone.
Cashin: OK.
Woman: He's out into the area. Something like this makes your hair stand up.
Cashin: Yes, it does.
———
Call from Christy Ferer, looking for her husband, Port Authority executive director Neil Levin, who was killed Sept. 1l. She spoke to Alan Reiss, then director of the trade center:
Ferer: Hi. I know you're crazed. ... I don't want to bother you, but the governor is looking for Neil, and so am I. And no one can find him.
Reiss: Right, and they ... . I tried his cell phone a number of times. I've sent him pages. And I really don't know where he is, or Ernesto Butcher, or Karen Eastman.
Ferer: OK, well, Ernesto was seen on the first floor, according to Doug, uh, Carpolaro or whoever.
Reiss: Doug Karpiloff, yeah, one of my guys.
Ferer: Right. ... And, um, but, um, you all ... do you know for a fact that he wasn't in the office?
Reiss: I don't know that for a fact.
Ferer: Uh-huh. He had a seven ... did you see his driver, John, around?
Reiss: No. I'm at the police desk. I was on the mall when this thing happened.
Ferer: Right. Oh, I'm sorry to bother you ... (overlap)
Reiss: That's OK ... (overlap)
Ferer: But they're looking for him for a press conference. They're looking for him and ...
Reiss: Well, he ... if he's walking down the fire stairs, it could be two hours till he gets down.
Ferer: Right, OK ...
Reiss: I mean, God forbid. I went through this in '93.
Ferer: Uh-huh ... uh-huh ... . Thank God you did (inaudible/overlap) someone who's experienced like that ...
Reiss: Well, you know, someone's watching out for me upstairs. I'm gonna say a lot of prayers ...
———
On sending rescuers for people trapped in a suite on the 90th floor of 1 World Trade Center:
(alarms can be heard in background)
Officer Ray Murray: Port Authority Police, Murray.
Male Caller: Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is building one.
Murray: Yeah, what floor are you on, sir?
Caller: We're on the 90th floor.
Murray: Ninetieth floor.
Caller: I've got five people here. We can't get out.
Murray: Five World Trade Center, they can't get out. (overlap)
Caller: One ... One World Trade.
Murray: I meant the five people, I know that, sir. One ... (overlap)
Caller: Yeah, One World Trade Center, five people. Suite 9051.
Murray: 9051. We are sending officers up there now. It's on multiple floors. (overlap)
Caller: Thank you. OK.
Murray: OK.
———
On bodies and debris falling from the burning trade center:
Man: Just have all units use collections, numerous debris coming from the upper levels — including bodies.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox