Ground Zero Kills Again

Sploid
Jan. 18, 2006

Related: EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, September 18, 2001: "I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C. that their air is safe to breath and their water is safe to drink"

Related: 9/11 helpers sue feds over air quality 'lies'

In the last seven months, three 9/11 heroes who worked at the smoldering Ground Zero site have died of lung disease. The victims were too young to die of natural causes.

New York detective James Zadroga was 34. He spent a month working to find survivors at The Pile and died on January 4, the Associated Press reports. Zadroga suffered from "black lung" and had a huge amount of mercury polluting his brain.

Emergency medical technician Timothy Keller, 41, coughed up chunks of gravel after the World Trade Centers collapsed almost on top of him. Soon the Queens EMT had emphysema, and that killed him in June.

Felix Hernandez, a 31-year-old paramedic from the Bronx, spent days searching the toxic rubble for victims. He died on October 23.

Doctors blamed several respiratory illnesses for Hernandez' death.

It's known that both Keller and Hernandez were non-smokers in good health before the World Trade Center was destroyed more than four years ago.

And it has now been revealed that three FDNY men who worked The Pile have also suddenly died of respiratory illness.

Battalion Chief Joe Costello and firemen Walter Voight and Stephen Johnson suffered "unexpected and quick" deaths, according to New York City's civil-servant newspaper, The Chief.

Police, paramedic and fire officials all say they fear this is just the beginning.

Thousands of "first responders" worked on the site for months after the Twin Towers were destroyed.