WASHINGTON (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) -- Workers who suffered health problems after rescue and clean-up efforts at the destroyed World Trade Center have agreed to a 657.5-million-dollar settlement of their complaints, The New York Times reported late Thursday.

About 10,000 plaintiffs, including firefighters, police officers, construction workers and emergency responders had filed lawsuits against 90 defendants, including the city of New York and private companies hired for the cleanup.

The suits charged, among other things, that Mayor Michael Bloomberg failed to provide healthcare services to those who fell ill after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the twin towers.

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