Reply #11: Katrina's Death Toll Climbs Past 1,000

[deminks]

NEW ORLEANS - Searchers smashed through doors in New Orleans on Wednesday, bringing their hunt for the dead to homes that had been locked and to blocks hardest hit by Katrina's flooding. Behind those doors, officials said they expected a sharply escalating body count even as the overall death toll passed 1,000.

"There still could be quite a few, especially in the deepest flooded areas," said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jeffrey Pettitt, who is overseeing the retrieval of bodies. "Some of the houses, they haven't been in yet." Officials said searchers are beginning to find more children.

Reporters and photographers roaming the city have recorded numerous bodies in recent days around the city. One that had been marked remained in a house and visible from the street for a week before a reporter notified authorities. It was removed that day.

Nagin last week acknowledged there had been problems with the body removal, at least in the early stages, partly because Kenyon workers were having trouble with the conditions.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050921/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_katrina_hk2_7