Crushed building yields its treasure

Up to $900 million of gold and silver buried since the World Trade Center's collapse has been found.

The metals and other valuables were in vaults in a Bank of Nova Scotia building that was reduced to rubble when the twin towers fell.

Emergency workers found the gold on Wednesday, New York's Daily News reported yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the bank said it was working closely with authorities to ensure the "safe and secure relocation" of the hoard so demolition work could proceed.

A small army of heavily armed federal agents stood guard as policemen and firefighters packed the treasure into armoured cars. But the bank was coy on the booty's destination.

"For safety and security reasons, I don't want to give away any details that could put people's lives at risk," said bank spokeswoman Pam Agnew.

Twelve tonnes of gold and almost 30 million ounces of silver were stored in the facility on behalf of the Comex metals trading division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The metal was used to guarantee delivery against futures contracts traded at the Comex.

It is not known whether other precious metals, jewels or securities lost in the disaster have been recovered.

Rescue workers have recovered 490 bodies from the rubble and the latest official estimate of those unaccounted for is 3962.

The figures include 157 who were aboard the two commercial aircraft that crashed into the towers.

In Washington, 189 people died when an American Airlines flight crashed into the Pentagon.

Another 44 were killed when a United Airlines flight crashed in Pennsylvania.

- REUTERS

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