WHEN she woke up yesterday morning, New York attorney Bridget Fitzpatrick thought it would be a good time to give up smoking.

By nine o'clock she was lighting another cigarette - and trying once again to come to terms with scenes of almost apocalyptic devastation.

When her Chester-le-Street-born boyfriend Gavin McMahon died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, she knew that, as a tiny crumb of comfort, she was not alone in her grief.

But when the American Airlines 767 crashed into the quiet middle class streets of nearby Queens yesterday, she felt persecuted. It crashed into the houses three blocks away from her sister's home.

For a few moments she feared her sister might have been killed - taken by another appalling twist of fate. A series of frantic phone calls later and she knew her sister was safe.

Speaking from her Manhattan office, she said: "I feel like I've got a huge bullseye on my back.

"One minute my life is perfectly normal, then the next minute I am in the eye of a sinister storm."

Her sister, Diedra Murtagh, 36, was at home with her husband, Patrick, 41, a New York firefighter, when terror once again rained down on the Big Apple.

"She (Diedra) said she heard a noise like a plane was going to land. Then there was a huge explosion and the windows shook," said Miss Fitzpatrick.

"She looked outside and saw a fireball go up into the sky like a mushroom cloud. Her husband, who had lots of colleagues die on September 11, immediately checked everyone was safe, then went to help in the rescue operation."

Miss Fitzpatrick's sister lives in a comfortable, middle class part of the borough of Queens, called Bell Harbour, where one of the engines from the plane is thought to have landed. From there, you can see Manhattan, where thousands died two short months ago - including Miss Fitzpatrick's long-term boyfriend.

Last week, she told The Northern Echo how she saw the Twin Towers collapse with 35-year-old Mr McMahon inside, knowing instantly that she would never see him again.

A former pupil of St Leonard's RC Comprehensive School in Durham, Mr McMahon had always wanted to work at the World Trade Centre and got his chance as an insurance executive with the AON Corporation.

He was on the 99th floor when the first plane hit. Two months on, Miss Fitzpatrick was gradually picking up the pieces of her life when her city was once again plunged into panic.

She said: "I woke up today and resolved to give up smoking. Somehow I can't imagine succeeding at the moment."

* Mr McMahon's parents, Terry and Linda, who live on Chester-le-Street's Garden Farm estate, flew to Boston at the weekend, before their son's funeral on Wednesday. Friends from the North-East are expected to join them for the ceremony in Bayonne, New Jersey