Australian victims – WAR OF TERROR: [2 Edition]
Trudy Harris, Mark Whittaker, John Stapleton, Adam Daff. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T]14 Sep 2001: 1.
Trudy Harris, Mark Whittaker, John Stapleton, Adam Daff. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T]14 Sep 2001: 1.
Abstract
Mrs [Yvonne Kennedy] never returned home to Sydney. The 62-year-old widow and Red Cross worker was among three Australians confirmed killed when her aircraft ploughed into the Pentagon.
Federal government officials warned 90 Australians were still missing — feared dead — including businesspeople and tourists inside or near the World Trade Centre when the planes struck.
The number of Australians missing was increased yesterday from 58 as families and friends unable to contact loved ones bombarded officials with requests for help. Australians throughout the country continued to telephone and email each other to determine if friends and family in New York were alive.
Full Text
“THIS is my last message,” Yvonne Kennedy emailed to friends last Friday after arriving in New York, excited about fulfilling her dream of seeing a Broadway show. “See you when I get home, wrecked, broke and fat.”
But Mrs Kennedy never returned home to Sydney. The 62-year-old widow and Red Cross worker was among three Australians confirmed killed when her aircraft ploughed into the Pentagon.
Federal government officials warned 90 Australians were still missing — feared dead — including businesspeople and tourists inside or near the World Trade Centre when the planes struck.
Six Australians were also possibly on board the hijacked planes.
The number of Australians missing was increased yesterday from 58 as families and friends unable to contact loved ones bombarded officials with requests for help. Australians throughout the country continued to telephone and email each other to determine if friends and family in New York were alive.
John Howard flagged a national day of prayer and mourning next week in the wake of the tragedy.
Deputy Prime Minister John
Continued — Page 5
From Page 1
Anderson said Mr Howard had requested the service.
“It would be my proposal that concurrent with that, the nation’s religious leaders conduct a day of prayer, and the nation’s places of worship across cities, towns and our villages be thrown open,” he said.
In the multicultural heart of New York, virtually every nation has been hit by the disaster. As well as Australians and Americans, at least 100 Britons, 50 Bangladeshis, 27 South Koreans and 22 Japanese are dead or missing.
Mrs Kennedy, who has two sons, was treating herself to an overseas holiday after 25 years as a senior worker in the Red Cross. She was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, bound from Washington for Los Angeles — one of the 58 passengers herded to the back of the aircraft by men with “knives and paper-cutters”.
Ms Kennedy’s fellow Red Cross worker, Edithe Pigott, said her friend was the type of woman who would have been terrified.
“She was a caring, compassionate and considerate woman” who would be sadly missed, Ms Pigott, chairwoman of the NSW Red Cross, said.
The trip was Ms Kennedy’s retirement present to herself. She visited family in Canada and went on an Alaskan cruise, emailing friends back home along the way.
Mrs Kennedy had been with a tour group, but had broken away in order to spend a couple of days in Hawaii.
Another Sydneysider, Alberto Dominguez, 65, was a month from retirement. The Qantas baggage handler had been visiting a sick relative in Boston and was on board American Airlines Flight 11, which ploughed into one of the towers.
His wife, Martha Dominguez, missed the flight because she decided to stay behind to nurse her brother in Boston.
Mr Dominguez also leaves behind four children and six grandchildren.
“He was a very respected and very well-known member in the community,” Uruguayan consul Ana Estevez said.
Brisbane man Chris Porter, 23, is believed to have been killed by falling debris. He was working three blocks from the towers.
His father, Ross, said the young man was killed by falling plate glass.
The missing Australians include 37 from NSW, 10 from Queensland, 16 from Victoria, one from South Australia, five from Western Australia and one from the ACT. The origins of another 20 are unknown.
Andrew Knox, 29, from Adelaide, was telephoning his boss from inside one of the towers when the line went dead. No one has heard from the industrial advocate since.
Sydney computing professional Brad Noack survived, despite being inside one of the towers. But his American wife, working on a floor above, was killed.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer warned the number of missing Australians could increase.
“There are now some 90 Australians, reportedly in the vicinity of the World Trade Centre at the time of the attacks, who are still unaccounted for.
“That’s not to say that is a full list of all Australians who had anything to do with the World Trade Centre at that time,” Mr Downer said.
“Our staff in the New York consulate-general are urgently trying to locate the missing Australians with assistance from local New York authorities and emergency services.”
Two DFAT telephone hotlines have been set up — 1800 002 214 and 1300 555 135.
Illustration
Photo: Photo
“THIS is my last message,” Yvonne Kennedy emailed to friends last Friday after arriving in New York, excited about fulfilling her dream of seeing a Broadway show. “See you when I get home, wrecked, broke and fat.”
But Mrs Kennedy never returned home to Sydney. The 62-year-old widow and Red Cross worker was among three Australians confirmed killed when her aircraft ploughed into the Pentagon.
Federal government officials warned 90 Australians were still missing — feared dead — including businesspeople and tourists inside or near the World Trade Centre when the planes struck.
Six Australians were also possibly on board the hijacked planes.
The number of Australians missing was increased yesterday from 58 as families and friends unable to contact loved ones bombarded officials with requests for help. Australians throughout the country continued to telephone and email each other to determine if friends and family in New York were alive.
John Howard flagged a national day of prayer and mourning next week in the wake of the tragedy.
Deputy Prime Minister John
Continued — Page 5
From Page 1
Anderson said Mr Howard had requested the service.
“It would be my proposal that concurrent with that, the nation’s religious leaders conduct a day of prayer, and the nation’s places of worship across cities, towns and our villages be thrown open,” he said.
In the multicultural heart of New York, virtually every nation has been hit by the disaster. As well as Australians and Americans, at least 100 Britons, 50 Bangladeshis, 27 South Koreans and 22 Japanese are dead or missing.
Mrs Kennedy, who has two sons, was treating herself to an overseas holiday after 25 years as a senior worker in the Red Cross. She was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, bound from Washington for Los Angeles — one of the 58 passengers herded to the back of the aircraft by men with “knives and paper-cutters”.
Ms Kennedy’s fellow Red Cross worker, Edithe Pigott, said her friend was the type of woman who would have been terrified.
“She was a caring, compassionate and considerate woman” who would be sadly missed, Ms Pigott, chairwoman of the NSW Red Cross, said.
The trip was Ms Kennedy’s retirement present to herself. She visited family in Canada and went on an Alaskan cruise, emailing friends back home along the way.
Mrs Kennedy had been with a tour group, but had broken away in order to spend a couple of days in Hawaii.
Another Sydneysider, Alberto Dominguez, 65, was a month from retirement. The Qantas baggage handler had been visiting a sick relative in Boston and was on board American Airlines Flight 11, which ploughed into one of the towers.
His wife, Martha Dominguez, missed the flight because she decided to stay behind to nurse her brother in Boston.
Mr Dominguez also leaves behind four children and six grandchildren.
“He was a very respected and very well-known member in the community,” Uruguayan consul Ana Estevez said.
Brisbane man Chris Porter, 23, is believed to have been killed by falling debris. He was working three blocks from the towers.
His father, Ross, said the young man was killed by falling plate glass.
The missing Australians include 37 from NSW, 10 from Queensland, 16 from Victoria, one from South Australia, five from Western Australia and one from the ACT. The origins of another 20 are unknown.
Andrew Knox, 29, from Adelaide, was telephoning his boss from inside one of the towers when the line went dead. No one has heard from the industrial advocate since.
Sydney computing professional Brad Noack survived, despite being inside one of the towers. But his American wife, working on a floor above, was killed.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer warned the number of missing Australians could increase.
“There are now some 90 Australians, reportedly in the vicinity of the World Trade Centre at the time of the attacks, who are still unaccounted for.
“That’s not to say that is a full list of all Australians who had anything to do with the World Trade Centre at that time,” Mr Downer said.
“Our staff in the New York consulate-general are urgently trying to locate the missing Australians with assistance from local New York authorities and emergency services.”
Two DFAT telephone hotlines have been set up — 1800 002 214 and 1300 555 135.
Illustration
Photo: Photo