City finds more WTC 911 tapes

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

6:28 AM EDT, April 6, 2006

Investigators looking for part of a 911 call from a fire department official killed in the attack on the World Trade Center discovered eight more recordings of calls and emergency dispatches on two previously overlooked tapes, the department said.

The recordings from Sept. 11, 2001, are in addition to the roughly 130 calls to 911 released last Friday.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the recordings were discovered Wednesday when city investigators were searching for the remainder of a 911 call made by Dennis Devlin, a fire department battalion commander situated in the trade center's south tower.

The fire department said that the newly discovered recordings will be released after they are processed by the city law department.

An appeals court ruled last year that the words of the 911 callers should be confidential. In the calls that identified the callers by name, the court ruled, their family members should have the option of deciding whether to release the information.

The voices of the fire and police operators who heard the calls for help were released after the Times and relatives of Sept. 11 victims sued to get them.