The terrorist controlled plane that smashed through the World Trade Centre offices of Marsh & Mclennan in New York early this morning left little hope of any survivors being found out of the hundreds of staff in the buildings.

And any hope of pulling anyone out alive were obliterated when the building later collapsed.

Colleagues at the Bermuda offices of the brokers were left in shock at the devastation of the blasts.

"I don't want to think about how many people died in those buildings," said Andrew Carr, president of Marsh & Mclennan in Bermuda.

The New York Offices of Marsh & Mclennan - located in the top five floors in one of the towers of The World Trade Centre - were the first point of impact in this morning's attack on the financial hub of the world in downtown Manhattan.

The Royal Gazette understands that the first airplane to crash into the buildings directly hit the tower housing the Marsh & Mclennan offices.

It is also understood that several companies with offices in the towers also have offices in Bermuda, including AON Ltd, Centre Solutions as well as Marsh & Mclennan

AON Ltd is believed to have offices on the top floors of one of the buildings but the company did not want to comment on the tragedy earlier today.

Mr. Carr spoke with The Royal Gazette earlier and said he had not received any news from the New York office about the tragedy. But he was clearly very shocked and upset.

He said Marsh & Mclennan had offices in both towers staffed with hundreds of people.

Although he had not been to the New York offices, Mr. Carr said that Marsh & Mclennan occupied the top five floors in one of the buildings in addition to space elsewhere in both towers.

He said he had not tried to reach his boss in New York as he was sure they were occupied dealing with the situation.

Mr. Carr noted that several Marsh & Mclennan wholly owned subsidiary companies, including reinsurers Guy Carpenter and Stars, also maintained offices in the building.

"The tragedy has taken my breath away," he said.

He said that all 150 employees in the Bermuda office had stopped work and watched in disbelief as the tragedy unfolded, and he had been horrified to watch the footage on television.

The attack and loss of life was a tragedy for Marsh, he said, but he couldn't yet comment on how badly the company had been affected.

The Marsh & Mclennan Group was founded in 1871 and has grown to employ over 50,000 people in 100 countries. The group specialises in risk and insurance services, investment management and risk consulting.