WASHINGTON — As many as 800 people died when a hijacked commercial airliner crashed into the Pentagon just outside Washington, NBC news reported Tuesday.
NBC television gave no source for the report.
Earlier, Ed Plaugher, the fire chief in Arlington, Virginia where the Pentagon is located, told channel 9 television that the highest estimates were that as many as 800 could have died in the Pentagon, but the count could be a lot lower.
"We always were afraid the Pentagon could be a target," Plaugher told the television station.
The plane, reported to have been a Boeing 757 carrying 64 people, sliced into the U.S. military headquarters building during morning working hours at about 9:30 a.m. EDT .
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was in his office in the Pentagon at the time and briefly helped with the rescue operation, said the total number of casualties, including those who had been working in the building, was not yet clear. But he added: "It will not be few."