-Caveat Lector- Click Here: <A HREF="http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010913/n13231304_2.html";>Yahoo - Morgan Stanley says miraculous number o…</A> ----- Related QuotesMWD 48.90 +0.00 delayed 20 mins - disclaimer Thursday September 13, 7:37 pm Eastern Time Morgan Stanley says miraculous number of staff alive (UPDATE: Adds details, executive quotes) By Brian Kelleher NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Investment bank Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MWD - news ), the World Trade Center's largest tenant with 3,700 employees, said on Thursday a remarkably high number of its staff escaped Tuesday's vicious air attack that pulverized the twin towers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., which occupied 25 floors in the complex, was only missing 15 employees, a high-ranking official said. The firm, which had 3,700 employees in the complex, had earlier said between 30 and 40 workers were unaccounted for. ``It's a miracle,'' Chief Executive Philip Purcell told reporters Thursday evening. The firm had emergency plans that were sharpened in the wake of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and President Bob Scott said Morgan Stanley's staff knew exactly what to do. ``I would describe it as a collective reflex,'' Scott said. Morgan Stanley had offices between floors 44 and 74 in Two World Trade Center, the second building struck by a hijacked commercial plane on Tuesday. The news is in stark contrast to the grim story of bond trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Cantor's offices, which held 1,000 employees, were on floors 101 and 103 through 105 in the World Trade Center's 110-story north tower. The company has issued a preliminary list of 320 workers it has accounted for but its chief executive said in a TV interview Thursday he is unaware of anyone who escaped from their World Trade Center offices. Two hijacked commercial planes slammed into the twin towers Tuesday morning, eventually causing them to collapse and creating chaos in the downtown financial district. In a tearful interview on ABC-TV, Cantor Fitzgerald Chief Executive Howard Lutnick said he wasn't in the office on Tuesday because he was bringing his son to his first day of kindergarten. ``My view of business is different,'' Lutnick said. ``I need to try to be successful in business so I can take care of ... 700 families who are dreaming to find someone,'' referring to the families of the employees feared dead. MORGAN STANLEY EXECUTIVES' TOP PRIORITY IS ITS PEOPLE Purcell's top priority has been the firm's employees since he and other top executives hastily abandoned a Tuesday morning meeting to watch the tragic events unfold. ``I went to the window in my office, because you can see World Trade 1 and 2,'' he said. The second plane attack stunned him. ``I said 'My God, I hope they're out'.'' Workers at Morgan Stanley's Discover credit card unit call centers fielded about 50,000 calls from people looking for or offering information on the firm's employees. Morgan Stanley's operations at the World Trade Center, which processed trades and maintained account data for its retail brokerage accounts, will largely be moved to a contingency site in lower Manhattan, executives said. New York City officials allowed the other facility to operate with a skeleton crew on Thursday and Morgan Stanley expects a full crew of 400 people to be working there on Friday. ``Morgan Stanley is open for business,'' Purcell said. U.S. bond markets reopened on Thursday morning, while national stock markets closed for the third day in a row. U.S. stock markets will open on Monday at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT), according to Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. Exchanges and firms will start running tests of their systems on Saturday morning. Email this story - Most-emailed articles - Most-viewed articles ------------------------------------------------------------------------ More Quotes and News: Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co (NYSE:MWD - news) Related News Categories: banking, US Market News ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Help ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! 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