OKLAHOMA CITY: AFTER THE BOMB : Governor Meets Kin of the Missing : Recovery: Some family members weep but none show anger at change in process. Heavy equipment will be used to try to retrieve bodies.

Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating had an emotional meeting Monday with several hundred family members of people still missing in the bombed-out Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building as rescue workers prepared to start using heavy equipment on the remaining debris.

Keating said the use of the machinery, which increases the risk of bodies being damaged or buried, does not indicate that searchers are abandoning efforts to find the missing victims.

“These are our neighbors and friends,” Keating said. “We want to retrieve their bodies intact.”

Still, implicit in the switch to heavy equipment is an assumption that none of the missing--numbering 41--is alive and that more delicate removal methods are no longer needed.

Sharon Parker, whose husband is lost in the debris, said she understands that it no longer is reasonable to expect firefighters to risk their life by going into an unstable building to find those who probably are dead.

“The last thing we want is for more people to die in that building,” she said. “I wish they didn’t have to do it (with machinery), but I prayed on it and I know they have no choice.”

This marked a grim stage in the unfolding story of the April 19 blast and clearly outlined the scope of its expected death toll: 178.

“For the first time, I have seen a look next to despair in the faces of the family members who are still waiting,” said John Long, whose mother, Rheta, a secretary, was killed in the blast. “Amid this despair, there is still understanding that there are limits to everything, including this search.”

“The families have begun to realize that there’s no hope,” said Parker, whose husband, Jerry, was a civil engineer for the federal highway agency.

Keating met with the family members at the First Christian Church, where they have been receiving counseling since the day after the blast. Several participants said many of those present wept but none showed anger at the change in the recovery process. Some had been taken aback by Keating’s announcement Sunday night about the heavy equipment, but Monday they expressed gratitude for the exhaustive rescue efforts.

Engineers have concluded that a large portion of the building where many of the bodies are thought to be trapped is too unstable for firefighters to approach, despite efforts to shore it up.

One of the first pieces of heavy equipment to be used is a machine outfitted with a long claw to grab massive hunks of concrete and hoist them clear of the site, where they can be examined for remains.

In the process, there is the likelihood that bodies may be damaged or even buried beneath shifting concrete.

Until now, the sifting of debris has been done by hand, using jackhammers and saws. Firefighters formed bucket brigades to remove the small chunks and pieces of debris without causing shifting or sliding in the rubble.

Keating had begun to prepare the public Saturday for the shift away from rescue techniques by suggesting that the rubble might become a tomb for some of the missing. Ray Blakeney, director of operations for the Oklahoma state Medical Examiner’s office, said he still believes that most of the bodies will be recovered. But he acknowledged for the first time that some may be unreachable.

Blakeney said he expects the death toll to reach 178 and that the remaining victims were probably all killed instantly by the explosion. As of late Monday, the number of bodies recovered stood at 137, including 15 children.

“There is no indication of any kind that any of these people lived for any time at all,” he said. “The best people in the world to determine that are in our office, and none has any opinion that these people died from anything but crush injuries.”

Blakeney said he had talked Monday morning to family members about the need to change tactics. “They understood from the very beginning that this is a difficult situation and that this might occur.” The Rev. Mike Hays, among the local clergy counseling the families, said Monday represented a turning point in getting them ready to accept that their loved ones are dead and that some bodies may never be found.

“This is a transition moment,” Hays said. “The families still have a lot of questions, but I’ve sensed no anger.”

Just a day earlier, Assistant Fire Chief Jon Hansen had held out hope that shoring-up efforts by structural engineers would stabilize the building and allow rescue workers to re-enter the area known as “The Pit” to search for bodies.

Monday, Hansen sought to put an upbeat interpretation on the change: “There’s no way we’re going to give up. We just can’t get humans in there, so we’re going to use equipment.”