The death toll of Guyanese who perished in the terrorist attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City rose by one yesterday with the discovery of the body of Bhowani Devi Khemraj.

The toll of dead and presumed dead now stands at 24, with the possibility of it rising as more bodies are recovered from the still smoldering debris of the two 110-storey towers. Of the 24, only the bodies of Khemraj and Pamela Boyce, have been so far positively identified. Boyce, an accountant was buried last month and Kris Romeo Bishundat, 23, the Navy Information Systems technician, who died in the attack on the Pentagon was buried last week.

Guyana's Ambassador to the United States, Dr Odeen Ishmael, told Stabroek News yesterday that the New York City administration had notified the Guyana Consulate in New York of the discovery of Khemraj's body. He said that the body had been identified through the use of DNA, by samples that had been provided.

Dr Ishmael said that Khemraj had lived in Jersey City, New Jersey with her mother and very little else was known about her. He said that Consul General, Brentnol Evans, was in the process of contacting Khemraj's mother to see what other details could be ascertained and what assistance he could provide in helping her to access any benefits available as a result of her daughter's death.

Ishmael said that no one had approached the consulate or his office's assistance to ascertain the whereabouts of Khemraj and noted that it was the NYC authorities which had contacted the consulate.

Earlier this month, Ishmael had expressed concern about the reluctance of relatives, whose loved ones were undocumented and might have perished in the WTC attack, to come forward for fear of prosecution. In an effort to assist identification of the victims, federal authorities said that relatives of victims who were undocumented would not be prosecuted.

Commenting on the assistance that the consulate had been providing to relatives of those who died in the attack, Ishmael said that it had been writing to the US Embassy supporting the visa applications of identified relatives in Guyana to travel to the US for memorial services and other religious works at the request of their relatives in New York.

Stabroek News also understands that the Foreign Ministry had been assisting the identified relatives with entry forms and it was confirmed that a number of them had been successful in obtaining visas.

The ministry confirmed that a small number of relatives here had collected forms that were supplied by the NYC authorities to assist in the identification of the bodies recovered from the rubble.

The other Guyanese missing and now presumed dead are:

Shivonne Mentis, who resided in Hollis, Queens and worked with Marsh Enterprises on the 93rd floor in the north tower;

Astrid Sohan, who worked with Marsh and McLennan in one of the towers;

Ronald Singh, who worked at Windows on the World, on the 107th floor in north tower;

Kamini Singh, who worked at Windows on the World, on the 107th floor in north tower;

Shiv Shankar of Richmond Hill;

Anett Dataram, of South Ozone Park, New York;

Nizam Hafiz, former Guyana middle order batsman who worked on the 94th floor in the north tower;

Patrick Adams, a former Guyana Defence Force senior non-commissioned officer on worked for Fuji Bank as a security officer on the 80th floor;

John Charles, security officer at the WTC;

Babita Guman, who worked for Fiduciary Trust on the 97th floor in the southern tower;

Sita Shewnarine, who worked for Fiduciary Trust on the 97th floor in the southern tower;

Joyce Stanton and Patricia Stanton;

Vanavah Thompson who worked for ABM and was assigned to Marsh USA and was last seen on the 73rd floor;

Ameena Rasool, who worked with the Marsh and Maskan Insurance Company on the 98th floor of one of the two twin towers;

Ricknauth Jaggernauth who had been employed at NTX Interiors on the 104th floor of one of the towers. He resided at 164 Pennsylvania Ave, Brooklyn;

Hardai Prabhu who worked with Marsh and Maskan on the 98th floor of one of the towers;

Sarah Khan, who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 101st floor of the north tower, and resided in South Ozone Park, Queens, New York;

Vishal Ramsaroop.