ANOTHER Guyanese has been reported missing after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and authorities are appealing for information on those who have not been seen nor heard from since.

As the toll of those feared dead rose to nearly 7,000, diplomats in New York say the number of missing Caribbean nationals could be much higher than earlier reported.

Marcus Neblett of Hollis, Queens who was working at the World Trade Center (WTC) has not been seen since the deadly attacks when commercial aircraft were hijacked and flown into the Center's 110-storey twin towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.

Guyana's Ambassador to Washington, Dr. Odeen Ishmael told the Chronicle yesterday that Neblett's father, Colin, called the Guyana Consulate in New York over the weekend to report his disappearance.

He said Consul General, Mr. Brentnol Evans planned to visit Colin last evening to gather more information.

Ishmael also said the Consulate was "double checking" reports that another Guyanese, Vernon Asregado, who worked at the WTC, was also missing. He said someone claiming to be Asregado called the office to say that he had been working somewhere else on the day of the attacks and was safe.

And over the weekend, the body of Kris Romeo Bishundat, who was of Guyanese parentage, was recovered at the Pentagon.

Ishmael said the corpse of the 23-year-old Navy Information Systems Technician was to be handed over to his relatives by the United States government.

The body of another Guyanese, Pamela Boyce, was recovered and buried on September 17. The 43-year-old former Assistant Vice-President of Carr Industries on the 92nd floor of the WTC was the daughter of Neil Boyce and niece of Teddy Boyce and lived in Brooklyn.

So far, 20 other Guyanese have been reported missing - Farah Khan, Amarnauth Latchman, Ronald Singh, Kamini Singh, Shiv Sankar, Annette Dataram, Nizam Hafiz, Patrick Adams, Charles Gregory John, Babita Guman, Sita Sewnarine, Joyce Stanton, Patricia Stanton, Shevonne Mentis, Ameena Rasool, Astrid Sohan, Hardai Parbhu, Vanava Thompson, Rudy Bacchus and Ricknauth Jaggernauth.

Ishmael yesterday appealed to all who know of Guyanese missing to contact the Guyana Consulate in New York or any other relevant authority, the Chronicle and other media houses in Guyana with the information.

He said the Consulate is planning an inter-faith service at a Brooklyn church on Sunday for the relatives of those missing and all members of the public.

A Caribbean Media Corporation story filed by correspondent, Nelson King, yesterday said Caribbean diplomats and community leaders in New York noted that the number of nationals reported missing or dead could be much higher.

Officials representing the English-speaking Caribbean put the number at 55 to 125, and some published reports at 80 to 90.

A compilation of data on missing or dead persons from the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) diplomatic corps puts the figure around 60. Diplomats, however, admit that it is very difficult to give a true picture of the count since bodies recovered from the mountain of rubble at the site are not identified by nationality.

In addition, New York City officials say that it will take weeks or,
perhaps, months to clear all of the rubble and recover remaining bodies.

Some were also burnt to ash or beyond recognition, or blown apart in the attacks. Besides, officials say they have had to rely on information furnished by city authorities and this is often late and not always forthcoming.

Many relatives and friends, diplomats lament, have not been
cooperating because they may be undocumented or illegal in the country.

"There are some concerns that some people have been reluctant to
cooperate because of their immigration status," said George Griffith, the Barbados Consul General in New York. "And we're hoping that Caribbean people do not find themselves in that position," he added.

Griffith said that full cooperation is necessary because to do

otherwise would jeopardise prospects of full identification of bodies or proper compensation to victims and/or their families.

Dr. Patrick Lewis, Antigua and Barbuda's U.N. Ambassador, said that he at first doubted that Caribbean nationals would be fearful to report missing loved ones, but subsequently became convinced that this may be the case in many instances.

"That's why many of us (in the Consular corps), have not accepted some of the figures, knowing the number of nationals of those countries that exist in the New York area," he said.

Lewis, based on various calls he has received and made, and in his own research, estimated the current number of Caribbean nationals missing or dead at about 123.

"And I am quite sure it will go higher," he said. Nearly two weeks since the disaster, the region's diplomats, except Guyana and Jamaica, reported almost the same number of nationals missing or dead.

Jamaica has increased from four to 15 missing and two confirmed dead, according to Consul General, Dr Basil K. Bryan.

He refused to identify those missing or furnish the names of relatives or friends, stating that that may not be their wish.

Bryan, however, said that one of those dead, accountant O'Neil Hinds, a former Kingston College student, had gone to the WTC on a one-day assignment and as he tried to escape, he got trapped in the falling debris.

Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad, Belize, Barbados, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and the Bahamas are the other Caribbean countries reporting missing nationals.

New York officials yesterday said the number of those missing in the wreckage of the WTC had risen to 6,453, up 120 from the prior toll amid continued checks of lists of those unaccounted for.