US federal commission hears from September 11 survivors

In its first day of investigating the September 11 terror attacks, a federal commission in New York heard from survivors, rescue workers, politicians and relatives of victims who urged it to "point fingers" to prevent more attacks.

Speakers included a World Trade Centre worker horribly burned by a fireball, a woman who played a tape of a phone call her son made before he died in a tower, and a man whose wife was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

The 10-member panel will report by May 2004.