New York ? Some last words – words exchanged during emergency calls during a day of terror – are soon to be available to the public.

The city has sent out letters to 24 families of people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks advising them that partial transcripts and recordings of 911 calls made by the victims soon will be released because of a court order.

The letters, sent by express mail on Friday, advised only family members whose dead relatives could be identified from the calls recorded by police and fire department operators.

A judge ordered the move in a case brought by The New York Times and nine family members of victims under the state’s Freedom of Information law seeking fire department records.

The city said the transcripts and recordings likely would be released Thursday or Friday. It didn’t say how many there are.