They’re used to darkness, but not this kind.
“I just don’t want to find any more body parts,” said Jude Mull, a “sandhog” – a tunnel worker who’s been sifting through the debris at ground zero trying to find survivors of the World Trade Center disaster for more than a week now.
“I didn’t come here to find the dead. I came here to find the living.”
Mull, 32, and fellow sandhog Steve “Rasta-Man” Orsulich, 52, have spent their days searching near the remains of the once mighty north tower, crashing in Orsulich’s van for about an hour before starting another shift, then sleeping, then searching.
Mull, a father of three, drove from Woodstock on Wednesday to help. Orsulich, a white man who got his nickname because of his dreadlocks, drove down Thursday, looking to make his nine children proud.
Both figured their experience working underground would be an asset in the search, but with the rubble still piled high, they haven’t been able to get down in the trenches yet. Instead, they’re helping firefighters dig through the rubble and debris.
“Those guys are the real heroes,” Orsulich said. “They’re in the ditches, they’ve lost friends and relatives, and they’re still going.”
Orsulich said the support they’ve received from all the New Yorkers who show up to encourage them on has made all the difference to the rescue workers.
“New Yorkers are known for being rude, but they’ve just been great,” he said. “It’s refreshing to realize that America is still the home of the brave.”