THIS is the sort of picture the world may never see again.

It was taken by Newport woman Sian Rogers at the top of the World Trade Centre, New York, less than 48 hours before the twin towers were demolished by suicide airline pilots.

Student Sian, from Maesglas, in Newport, was saying farewell on Sunday to the Big Apple a day early, after three months spent soccer coaching in America.

The 20-year-old is still worried about friends she made while on her five-day trip to the city.

Sian is about to start the final year of a sports coaching degree in Cardiff and had been coaching soccer in Col-orado, Kansas and Miss-ouri.

"The family I was staying with in Denver took me to New York for five days," she said. "I was originally supposed to get back on Tuesday, but the family had to return to Denver early because they had children at school, so I flew out of Newark on Sunday.

"The first I heard about the attack was when I turned on the TV and saw the second plane flying into the building. I thought it was a movie and at first I didn't realise it was for real.

"The view from the top of the World Trade Centre was awesome. You could see all over Manhattan. The thought that a couple of days later aeroplanes could crash into the towers was terrible. I still can't believe it and it still hasn't sunk in.

"Seeing the pictures on television is different from actually being there. It has made me very wary."

Despite this, Sian is planning to move to America when she finishes her BSc course next year.

lMark Webster was flying to America on time today, after his five-day trip was postponed. The 22-year-old website designer from Caer-philly thought his flight might be called off.

The airline told him to keep phoning for updates, and yesterday afternoon he learned that it had booked him on a Virgin Atlantic flight to Newark, New Jersey, from Gatwick this afternoon.

"I feel OK about flying there," he said. "At the moment, it is probably the safest place to be flying to. I don't fly that often, so the experience is really one big muddle to me."

It will be Mark's first visit to the States.