NEW YORK (CN) - A $657 million settlement has been reached for rescue and cleanup workers who sued after being exposed to contaminants at the World Trade Center site after Sept. 11. The 10,000 plaintiffs will be compensated based on their illnesses and levels of exposure to chemicals while working at the site.
The money will come from a $1.1 billion federally backed insurance fund, The New York Times reported.
Firefighters, police officers, construction workers and medical teams sued the city and the private companies it hired to clean up the site after they became ill from the toxins they inhaled while working at the site. They complained officials never provided them with face masks.
The first 12 cases were to come to trial on May 16. Those trials will not take place, the Times reported.
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