Bermuda International Airport is preparing for an influx of thousands of air passengers after 18 flights were diverted from their original destinations in the United States following this morning's series of apparent terrorist attacks.

And a Government Information Services spokesman said the Emergency Measures Organisation (EMO) was in the process of meeting to work out a way to deal with the situation.

Michael Osborn, acting operations manager, said : "We are going to place the aircraft on a first come first served basis. If we end up with eight aircraft we will hold them in the outer available space but the airport can take a huge number of aircraft because it has five ramps.

"If the passengers come off the plane they will be taken through Customs and Immigration and taken on to hotels. The EMO might consider it necessary to have buses provided."

Airport Operations spokeswoman Sharon Jacobs said the airport was coordinating with the EMO in preparing for the passengers.

She said some had already landed while others were expected to be touching down some time between midday and two this afternoon.

Diverted flights included two Continental airliners carrying 142 and 183 passengers respectively, a British Airways flight carrying 147 people, an American Airlines plane carrying 182 passengers, a Martin Air flight with 257, a Lufthansa plane with 222 passengers and an AlItalia plane carrying 130 people. Also Delta flight 767 was due in at 1.36 p.m. and another Delta flight ten minutes later at 1.46 p.m.

Ms Jacobs said she was not aware of where these planes had originated but added another nine were expected to be landing in Bermuda over the course of the afternoon after US aviation authorities shut down the nation's airports.

She explained that accommodation was being worked out for all of the grounded passengers and that they would be assisted by airport staff through immigration.

"We're confident that we can handle this and we're fully prepared. We've got a full complement of staff and more people at the Ministry of Transport that we can call on if necessary."

Ms Jacobs said : "We've got every possible room available. Some of the airlines are doing their own bookings and lining up accommodation for their passengers. We're trying to supplement that. The EMO and the tourism department will coordinate some accommodation. So far it's been good, we're handling this situation so that we can move passengers smoothly and compiling information and informing people.

"Our staff here and our other staff in the ministry can be called upon to assist and we are doing everything to make this as smooth as possible for these diverted passengers."

The Department of Tourism, meanwhile, was trying to get interpreters to the airport to deal with foreigners on the Lufthansa and AlItalia flights. Tourism was also coordinating with the airport and the cruise ships to find out if any cruise berths were available.

It was confirmed that passengers from one Continental flight and two British Airways flights would be staying at the Southampton Princess.