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Trade center death toll now 2,936

Crews continue working around the clock recovering victims and clearing the wreckage from the World Trade Center site.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The estimate of the number of dead in the September 11 World Trade Center attacks has dropped to 2,936, officials said Wednesday.

The city's Office of Emergency Management said 593 people are confirmed dead. Another 363 people are listed as missing with no death certificates issued, and 1,980 death certificates have been issued for victims whose remains have not yet been identified.

Tuesday, recovery crews discovered the bodies of seven firefighters in a crushed elevator shaft at the disaster site, a fire department spokesman said.

Authorities originally estimated that as many as 6,500 people died when two hijacked jetliners crashed into the twin towers, 17 minutes apart. The estimate quickly went below 5,000 as the confusion of the hours after the attack diminished, and it has continued to shrink for several reasons, including elimination of duplicate reports.

In the clean-up effort, workers have removed 795,763 tons of building debris and 148,429 tons of steel.