Tower ruins a tomb for thousands of workers

By ANDREW LAXON and AGENCIES

Thousands of people are believed to have died in yesterday's terrorist attacks.

Officials fear many of the 40,000 people who worked at the World Trade Center in Manhattan were buried alive when two hijacked planes hit the 110-storey Twin Towers.

New York emergency services said more than 300 firefighters and 85 police officers were missing.

In Washington, up to 800 defence staff may have died when the Pentagon was struck by a third plane.

So far, the only confirmed casualties are at least 266 people, who were on board the four hijacked commercial flights.

A further 2326 were reported as injured - 2250 at the World Trade Center and 76 at the Pentagon.

Aircraft passengers: Flight records list 233 passengers, 25 flight crew and eight pilots. The planes were:

* American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 from Boston to Los Angeles, which was the first plane to hit the World Trade Centre at 8.45 am local time. It carried 81 passengers, nine flight attendants and two pilots.

* United Airlines Flight 175, also a Boeing 767 from Boston to Los Angeles, which had 56 passengers, two pilots, seven flight attendants on board. It crashed into the other other tower of the World Trade Center shortly after 9 a.m.

* American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 from Washington to Los Angeles, which hit the Pentagon about 9.40 am. It was carrying two pilots, four flight attendants and 58 passengers, including 45-year-old TV commentator and lawyer Barbara Olson, wife of Solicitor General Ted Olson, who rang her husband twice on a cell phone to tell him about the hijacking.

* United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, which crashed about 130km southeast of Pittsburgh half an hour later with 45 people on board.

World Trade Center: Police and emergency specialists expect to find thousands of bodies in the rubble of the twin towers over the next few days.

Between 40,000 and 50,000 people work at the Center, and about 150,000 visit it each day.

Firefighters and police: More than 300 of the 11,000 firefighters who rushed to the scene of the disaster are missing, presumed dead.

The vice-president of New York's firefighters union, Mike Carter, said; "We have entire companies that are missing."

Last night 85 police officers were also missing.

Pentagon: Estimates of the numbers killed in this attack ranged yesterday from 100 to 800 or more.

Full coverage: Terror in America

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The fatal flights

Emergency telephone numbers for friends and family of victims

These numbers are valid for calls from within New Zealand, but may be overloaded at the moment.

United Airlines: 0168 1800 932 8555

American Airlines: 0168 1800 245 0999

NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade: 0800 872 111

US Embassy in Wellington (recorded info): 04 472 2068

Online database for friends and family