Police officers in Bermuda have sent their condolences to colleagues in the NYPD after joining them in a soccer tournament in North America just two days before the terrorist attacks in the US last week.

Det. Con. Calvin Smith, from Bermuda Police's Major Incident Unit, said officers in Bermuda were joined by their counterparts from both New York and the Secret Service in the North American Police Soccer Championships in Toronto ten days ago.

He said the officers from New York and the Secret Service returned home on Sunday of last week - two days before terrorists hijacked commercial planes and deliberately flew them into major US landmarks, including both the twin towers at the World Trade Center in new York and The Pentagon in Washington.

The attacks are believed to have cost almost 6,000 lives.

Det. Con. Smith said he had not heard whether any of the officers involved in the annual competition had been lost in the mass devastation to hit New York, but said everyone was hopeful they were okay.

"I have been in contact with the guys from NYPD and the Secret Service to pass on our thoughts and concerns to them after what happened last week," said Det. Con. Smith.

"I have been speaking to some of them and they are okay, but obviously numbers of those lost are still coming in.

"As far as we know there was nobody we knew lost.

"We were all in Toronto together for the tournament. They left on Sunday to return home to New York. "We couldn't believe it when we saw what was happening on Tuesday morning. We were all watching it from the time the first plane went into the tower.

"The mood among everyone there was very sombre."

This is the fourth time Bermuda has taken part in the football competition, which was set up 22 years ago to build relations among officers in North America and help them network.

"The idea", he said "is to help us put faces to voices we speak to on the end of the phone during the course of Police work. It is about getting together and building relationships."

Law enforcement from all over North America, including Canada, take part in the five-day event, with a different city hosting it each year. Bermuda hosted the event in 1998.

There were 30 officers and civilians from Bermuda Police who attended the event with their spouses, and who faced delays in returning home last week after the attack on the US.

Det. Con. Smith added: "We got stuck in Toronto. Some people were supposed to be leaving on Sunday, but couldn't because of the threat from the hurricane. They were also unable to leave Monday for the same reason, and then on Tuesday the attacks happened.

"I was actually originally planning to fly back on the Wednesday, but it turned out that we all got back last Friday, instead."

The detective said officers had also hoped to play a match against students at Albert College in Belleville, Ontario, where Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton was from before being brutally murdered in July 1996.

Det. Con. Smith said about 12 students from Bermuda attend the college, so the officers had hoped to arrange a soccer match, but timing, finding a suitable venue and travelling logistics did not allow it.

The officer thanked both the hotel in Toronto for assisting the group when they faced delays last week, as well as all of the corporate sponsors who help to fund the Bermuda team taking part in the event.

The Bermuda team are former champions of the tournament, but this year the event was won by Toronto.