>other building materials, which filled the "crater" area.
Correct, I was first on the bucket brigade and even steel girders were mangled and filled a good portion of the hole. But when I first got to the precipice, I kicked a small piece of debris down there to see if I could here if it landed somewhere but I couldn't hear it and knew that not only did it go a quite a few stories down but nothing living would survive that distance. I pray everyday of my life for those poor souls.