Skittish office workers leave Sears Tower

Reuters
Published September 20, 2001, 1:22 PM CDT

A rumor that apparently originated on Chicago's financial exchanges of another hijacked plane today sent skittish office workers streaming out of the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the United States.

A spokesman for the downtown Sears Tower said the rumor was utterly false, likening it to a false bomb threat. He said the rumor spread from one of Chicago's trading floors to a brokerage firm in the building, and moved from there.

Chicago police said there was no truth to the rumor.

Some people working in landmark buildings such as the Sears Tower say they have been nervous since last week's air attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon near Washington.

"This just shows the anxiety level around here," said Pete Newell, an executive with Salomon Smith Barney, who works on the tower's 85th floor.

"They say it's OK to go back, but what is OK?" asked Diane Sheets, an office worker on the tower's 37th floor.

As word spread through the 110-story tower, hundreds of the building's roughly 10,000 workers congregated on sidewalks outside, some crying.

The Sears Tower measures 1,454 feet to the highest point on its roof. Tower One of the World Trade Center measured 1,368 feet and Tower Two measured 1,362 feet. The world's tallest buildings , The Petronas Towers [in fact they are the tallest in only one category, tallest building including spires; the Sears has the highest occupied floor and is the tallest building including antenna; the CN tower is the world's tallest structure] in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, measure 1,483 feet in height.