An American actress who lives in Liskeard has told how she frantically tried to contact her parents in New York in the agonising hours that followed the terrorist attacks on her homeland.

Liz Hawkins' parents live in New York while her brother lives and works near the Pentagon, another of the terrorists' targets.

Liz, who has two young children, spoke of her fears for the safety of relatives and friends. She suffered a terrible wait, lasting for hours, as she tried to contact her parents, Peter and Marilyn Giles.

Liz, of the Selah Theatre Company, is married to Andrew Hawkins, artistic director at Sterts.

She said she was more concerned for the safety of her brother than that of her parents, as her father is now retired from his work in the financial world, and would not have been in the vicinity of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

She was very afraid for brother Scott, who lives near the Pentagon in Washington, and works for a high ranking Congressman in the Capitol Building which is close by.

Liz, aware all Washington staff had been evacuated under fears of further attack, thought her parents were the best bet for information, but was not able to get a telephone link to the USA until almost midnight. Fortunately the news was good, and apparently Scott was involved in the immediate evacuation of the Capitol Building as soon as the shock news came from New York.

He had also told his parents that it is now firmly believed that the fourth plane hi-jacked by the terrorists, which crashed in Pittsburg, was heading either for his building, The White House or Camp David.

Brought up in New York, Liz says she knows that in the days to come there will be tragic news to face about childhood friends who work on Wall Street, and that her father will be facing the same trauma.

'I would have been in New York at this time staying with my parents' said Liz, 'but decided to put off the trip until November because I wanted to be at home while my four year old daughter Charis settles in at school'. However, she says her forthcoming visit now looks uncertain, because Mr and Mrs Giles are fearful of an uncertain future from any retaliation action the USA may take. 'They have told me my first priorities lay with my children and husband in Cornwall' she said.

Husband

Liz says she and her husband, during this very tragic time, feel very 'displaced' - 'it is hard to take in what is happening in America when I am so far away. We were in the USA when Princess Diana died and had the same feeling then. We are a cross cultural family who travel back and forth across the Atlantic regularly, but I now feel very afraid for my young children'.

She said Josiah is only two and a half but Charis now asks questions.

'How can you tell a four year old that there are bad men who take planes without frightening them' she said.

'In the context of bringing up a family of my own I am devastated by the loss of life, and the sickening lack of respect for humanity'.