Wayne Furbert remembered his friend, Rhondelle Tankard, as “a loving, caring person” interested in developing music.

The Hamilton West (Constituency 6) MP also described the 31-year-old, who died in the Twin Towers attacks, as a strong woman with wisdom.

Ms Tankard had only started working at the World Trade Centre the day before the terrorist attacks.

Before arriving in New York, she had been working for the Aon insurance company in Bermuda

Mr Furbert said: “I could not believe this young lady who had so much to offer in talent, particularly in the music industry, was gone ... and that day I will never forget.”

The politician looked back on that dreadful day a quarter of a century ago and remembered learning of the news.

He said: "I was in the doctor's office just around the corner from here and I remember very clearly because the doctor had a small television in his office and so I was looking at it and thought it was a movie.

"I didn't know at first that it was a plane that had crashed into the towers. And probably the most devastating thing for me was that I knew Rhondelle was in a tower working there.

“I know many of her friends were trying to reach her.

"I had phoned her the day before to see how she was doing because we had become very good friends with her music and my singing.

“So it was devastating to see this taking place and waiting to see who was impacted.

"It wasn't until a while afterwards that we realised she was in one of the towers that day that was crumbling.

"She used to play for a church choir called Warwick Holiness and I was a singer in the choir. That's where my wife and I first met her. She played piano for the choir.

"My wife and I went to the towers memorial and looked for her name on the plaque and I took a photo of it. But walking through that tower [where it used to stand] ... I had to say, wow, that day was devastating for anyone because you hear of people being pinned down and they cannot get away.

"I pray to God that when she did pass away that there was not much pain.

"Rhondelle will always be missed by my family.

“She had a definite skill set and if she was still here it would not only be a blessing to the gospel music industry, she would be a blessing to Aon in the insurance industry.

"Last time I saw her was probably three days before she left. I would have seen her on the Sunday before the attack and I sent her a message. I asked how she was doing and she said she was fine.

"I remember her as a loving, caring person who was very much interested in developing the gospel music and pretty well helping me out with my songs that I sang. She is sadly missed.

"For such a strong, young lady, with such strength, such wisdom and talent — I pray and I believe she is in a better place.

"I hope to fly to New York in the next couple of weeks and see the plaque once again.“

Ms Tankard continues to be honoured by her former school, Warwick Academy, with a concert and a wreath-laying ceremony.

The musical tribute was only started in 2018 after pupils were on a school trip to New York and found a picture of the former student at the Twin Towers memorial and decided more should be known about her.

Shelly Grace, a former teacher of Ms Tankard, remembered her fondly and recalled the frantic few days after the Twin Towers were obliterated, waiting on word of the ex-pupil.

Ms Grace recalls the awful day in detail, like everyone else. She was at school when a colleague asked after a class if she was free and if there was a television in her room.

She remembered: "I said that I was free but had no TV and then someone else told me that the first plane had hit the World Trade Centre. It was about nine or ten in the morning and I was just shocked.

"The next few days the news came out that Rhondelle had been in the [South] Tower and we kept waiting and hoping that there would be news she had been found.

“Eventually, we knew the consequences and she was never found. It's a bit of a blur but I am sure it was several days later when we knew.

"It was so sad. Shocking.

"This year will be more touching with it being the 25th anniversary."

She said: "I retired from teaching last year after 47 years and actually taught Rhondelle.

"I taught her health and wellbeing when she was at Warwick Academy. She excelled at everything she did and was a very personable young lady.

"She was a great musician and singer. I saw her sing in a church choir and she was great. It was thought that the best way to honour her was through a music programme so we have a spring concert in her name.

"We would have a wreath-laying ceremony every year in her honour at the school followed by the spring concert.

"The principal, Mr [David] Horan joins the head boy and head girl in the ceremony and after the wreath laying he reads a tribute and it is filmed. But the weather was bad last year and we ended up in the school hall doing it.

"You know, the whole concert thing started through pupils. We had taken seven pupils to New York on a trip to a United Nations conference and we got snowed in.

"So we took the students to the 9/11 memorial and I think they were quite shocked to see Rhondelle's picture there in her Warwick Academy uniform. They said to us, ‘We don’t know enough about this and we need to honour her’.

"So that is when the concert started, it was way back in 2018. We always recognised her before in different, small ways but there was nothing official until those students came up with the idea.

"Her relatives and a lot of family often come along to the concerts.

"Originally, we started doing the concert earlier, in September, but it became so difficult to organise with the pupils coming back from holiday in August so we switched it, having the wreath laying first on September 11 and then staging the concert in the spring.“