OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) —About 250 people who were injured or lost loved ones in the Oklahoma City bombing want to watch Timothy McVeigh put to death for the attack.

Federal prison officials are weighing how to accommodate those who want to witness the first federal execution since 1963, and are even considering the possibility of a closed-circuit television broadcast.

The death chamber at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., where McVeigh is scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 16 has only eight seats for witnesses for the victims.

McVeigh dropped all appeals in December and has until Feb. 16 to seek clemency from President Bush for the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil. The April 19, 1995, bombing of the federal building killed 168 people and injured more than 500.

In January, the government sent out about 1,100 letters to bombing survivors and victims' relatives asking if they want to watch the execution. The number of responses was disclosed Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"The responses indicate varying levels of interest in viewing the execution, depending on what arrangements are finalized," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.

Martha Ridley, whose daughter Kathy was killed in the bombing, said she faxed a response 35 minutes after getting the letter from the government. She said she wants to see the execution mostly because of comments made by McVeigh's mother, who told a TV station in 1999 that Oklahomans affected by the attack should get on with their lives.

"That ticked me off, and I'm being very polite when I say ticked," said Ridley, who is raising Kathy's daughters, ages 6 and 10. "I'm raising two girls who will never see their mother again, and he has been so self-centered about this situation. He's never said he's sorry. And her mentality is the same as his is."

Paul Heath and seven other bombing survivors have asked attorney Karen Howick to go to court if necessary to give victims a closed-circuit telecast of the execution.

Howick said there is a good chance the government will put the execution on closed-circuit television. She said that she has found no precedent for such a telecast but that there is no law barring one.

Kevin Acers of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty objected to the process of inviting people to witness the execution.

"It almost encourages people to be enthusiastic about the execution," he said.