A WORCESTER father-of-two has relived the moment the first hijacked plane tore into the World Trade Centre, as he was working inside.

Warndon parish council member Andrew Philpott survived by diving under a table as debris rained down from a glass ceiling.

He was on the eighth floor, eating breakfast in the Marriott Hotel, when the airborne terrorists struck on Tuesday.

After hearing an horrendous bang, the 37-year-old first thought a bomb had exploded.

As soon as the glass settled, he fled and called his wife Karen in Fotheringhay, Berkeley Heywood, Warndon Villages.

"It was five past two when he called," said housewife Karen. "He said 'There's been a bomb, but I'm out of the building'."

At the time, she had not heard that terrorists were responsible.

"I'd have been going out of my mind if he hadn't phoned and I'd seen the reports," she said.

Mr Philpott had been staying in New York on business with the computer company Unisys.

He was with three other British colleagues, two of whom were injured.

He had escaped when he saw the second plane hit the second tower.

"He said he'd seen people jumping from the windows," she added.

He headed for Unisys' Manhattan offices, half-a-mile away, and saw the two towers collapse from there.

"He said the city was covered in dust and looked like a moonscape," added Mrs Philpott. "Everything was grey. There was dust everywhere."

As Manhattan was evacuated, he walked six miles to the nearest operating subway station with colleagues.

"I didn't hear again until evening," she said. "When I knew he was safe, I called all our family and friends."

When the couple last spoke, on Wednesday, he made the three-hour car drive to offices in Philadelphia.

Having lost all his possessions, he returned to New York on Thursday to pick up an emergency passport.

He was in Philadelphia today, waiting for a flight home.

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