United States residents with ties to Bermuda described scenes of "chaos and pandemonium" yesterday following Tuesday's series of brutal terrorist attacks.

A former Bermuda journalist now working in Washington, DC said he was "thankful to be alive" after travelling past the Pentagon 20 minutes prior to Tuesday's devastating crash.

Charles Hamidu, former editor of the Bermuda Times newspaper, lives in Virginia and works in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC.

Mr. Hamidu said he was using public transportation to reach his job as a communications manager for an international development firm.

He said caught the Blue Line Metro direct from the Pentagon, about 100 metres from the federal building. But when he arrived at work, he was told the Pentagon was in flames.

"I don't think most of us ever believed the US could be hit that hard, and definitely not in those strategic places," said Mr. Hamidu.

Mr. Hamidu said despite the level of shock that had swept across America - particularly in New York and Washington - the US Government's attempt to create a feeling of normality had been somewhat successful, since DC residents returned to work despite the chaotic images that now mar their landscape.

"People here in Washington are still numb. I was on the train this morning, and there was absolute silence," he said. "Everyone had a look of gloom on their faces, and people had their heads buried in the papers trying to get every scrap of news they possibly could.

"And the Pentagon, it's just awful driving past. You wouldn't believe the damage on a building like that. It's smouldering still, smoke is still billowing out of it," said Mr. Hamidu. "It's horrendous, it's such an ugly sight."

Jody Cary (nee Stovell), sister to Royal Gazette chief reporter Cathy Stovell lives in upper Manhattan and had gone to work in the Bronx at about 10 a.m. yesterday. She said she could see " thick clouds of smoke" and wondered what it was from.

"I called (my husband) Marc and he told me to come home right away. All the subways were closed and no buses were running so I walked home."

Mr. Cary said he paid a cab driver $20 for the short ride to 96th Street to pick his two children up from school. "There was pretty much not a cab to be had so I had to beg this guy to take me and I really pleaded with him to wait as I picked up the kids from school," he said.

"There were thousands of people in the street and the atmosphere was very panicked so people wanted to fight me to get the cab. I even offered the driver $10 more but he had a heart and turned it down and then he said he was going to go straight home.

"I just wanted to have all my family close to me," said Mr. Cary. "We're fine and we're pretty much staying in because it's too panicky out there. Imagine the only way to get around now is to walk. Everyone is walking. The only way to get to Brooklyn is to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge."

American Bobbie Nearon said both she and her Bermudian husband Chuck Nearon left their home in King-of-Prussia, Pennsylvania and drove together to the Philadelphia International Airport early on Tuesday morning - with Mr. Nearon heading to Los Angeles on business and Mrs. Nearon travelling to Bermuda to visit relatives.

They kissed goodbye at their respective gates, and spoke about seeing each other on September 20 when they both returned home.

But when Mrs. Nearon's flight was grounded as a result of the planes hijacked en route to the West Coast, she was terrified at the prospect that her husband might be on one of the doomed flights.

"I'd heard that eight planes had been targeted heading to Los Angeles ... as soon as I got off my plane, I asked an airline representative to check the status of his flight," said Mrs. Nearon. "They told me `we know it's in the air, but we have no idea of the status'. My heart just sank."

After claiming her baggage in a scene she described as "chaos and pandemonium", Mrs. Nearon learned that the hijacked West Coast flights were on a different airline and her husband's plane had been forced to land in Ohio.

Mrs. Nearon finally found a way back to her King-of-Prussia home, and attempted to contact frantic Bermuda relatives who knew they both were flying on the same day.

"We couldn't get a line to Bermuda, and so our family didn't know we were safe until evening," said Mrs. Nearon.