Which parent or spouse could not help but imagine the horror that befell moments after the calls ended? For others, the calls may be sources of comfort. Rick Rescorla, who was born in Hayle, west Cornwall, was at work as head of security for the investment bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter when the second plane struck He spoke to his wife Susan shortly before he died. “He called me on his cellphone, told me not to cry,” said Mrs Rescorla. “He was helping everyone evacuate, but if something happened to him he wanted me to know that I ‘made his life’.

His last words to me were ‘you made my life’ – but he made mine.”Understandably, many clung to the hope that their loved ones had survived. Matt Campbell, of Hassocks in West Sussex, thought his brother Geoff, whose office was a mile away in Times Square, was safe until he learnt that the 31-year-old had attended a conference in the World Trade Centre. Soon after the tragedy he said: “I’m hoping Geoff has survived and suddenly we’ll hear from him There is no information on him We’re just hoping and praying. Geoff’s girlfriend in New York is going round all the hospitals.” But Geoff was another victim.As hours of insufferable silence stretched into days, hopes began to fade. Seven days after the atrocities, the first of several hundred relatives, whose flights were paid for by the British Government, arrived in New York By then there were up to 300 Britons reported missing.

Some close relatives were too traumatised to make the journey and were represented by other family members.They made their painful way to the family centre on Pier 94. There they registered their loved ones as missing and surrendered some traces – a hair from a comb, a toothbrush, a cigarette end, a razor – hoping the DNA would help in the identification process. Some chose to visit the site, a mass of pulverised dust and rubble, helping them to come to terms with the stark reality that their loved ones were probably not coming back. They were supported by family liaison officers from the British police and 14 counsellors from Cruse, the UK bereavement charity.The trek to Pier 94 was a forlorn and, for many of the bereaved Britons, a largely fruitless task. The British Consulate in New York says the remains of just 23 of the 67 dead have been identified. Tom Clarke, the spokesman for the September 11 UK Families Support Group, said the absence of remains increased the families’ already acute sense of loss.