THE family of a Darlington man, who witnessed the planes crashing into the World Trade Centre in New York, have described their fears for his safety.

James Winter, 30, whose family lives in Parkside in Darlington, has an apartment near the famous building and until recently worked there as a systems analyst.

Before the building collapsed he described being woken by a huge bang at around 8.50am local time.

"I was in bed and there was a huge explosion. The whole building rattled and shook.

"I ran to the window and there was smoke billowing from the south side of one of the towers. Everyone in my building was panicking and running around."

He added that shortly afterwards there was a second explosion which also shook his building.

"Everybody is saying that this is a terrorist attack and everyone around here is panicking.

"It will have been really busy with people arriving for work in the financial district. "It is just unbelievable that this is happening. Both towers have been taken out. I just can't believe this is happening."

James, who attended Carmel College and Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington, moved to New York three years ago with his girlfriend Rachel Ward, 29, also from Darlington.

His sister Lindsay explained that they hoped he would be all right as he had been interviewed on Sky News.

She said yesterday: "He worked at the World Trade Centre until recently, when he changed jobs, but he lives nearby. We have tried phoning but we can't get through. We're quite worried."

Rachel, who started going out with James when they were 16 at sixth form, works for Amnesty International in 26th Street, near the Empire State Building.

Yesterday her family had also been unable to contact her. Her sister Claire said: "I couldn't begin to describe how I feel. Absolutely worried sick. We can't get through.

"We had a fax from a friend to say James had been on Sky News, but we think that was before the building collapsed, so we don't know if he's all right either."