Second tragedy for Rockaway

The New York district where the jet came down was already mourning dozens of victims of the September 11 terror attacks.

A large number of the firefighters and port authority officials killed in the World Trade Centre horror happened to live in the Rockaway area of the Queens district.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the area had already been hard hit. He said: ‘‘I passed a church where I have been for, I think, 10 funerals.

‘‘I have been here probably 20 times for funerals and wakes, so the idea that Rockaway could be the victims of this is terrible.’’

Rockaway is situated south of JFK Airport on the Atlantic Ocean coast and is built along a long finger-shaped peninsula.

A favourite summer resort for New Yorkers, it is also a popular mooring point for yachts.