Seven out of 15 registered Malaysians who work at the World Trade Center in New York City have been confirmed to be safe while the others are still unaccounted for.

"We would have information on the other eight tomorrow morning but most of those we still have not contacted have changed their phone numbers or places of residence," said the Malaysian consul-general in New York Ahmad Shahizan Abdul Samad when contacted.

Two commercial airliners, believed to have been hijacked by terrorists, smashed into the 110-storey WTC towers early yesterday morning (Malaysian time 8.45pm and 9.03pm), causing both structures to collapse into rubbles.

The US Department of Defense, or Pentagon, was also hit by another airplane which damaged a section of its sprawling facilities, while a fourth airliner crashed in the eastern sea board state of Pennsylvania.

The casualties are said to be in the thousands.

While there have been no reports of Malaysian casualties so far, Ahmad reiterated that more information could be obtained tomorrow.

Ahmad also told malaysiakini that the WTC area has been cordoned off and only rescue and aid workers are allowed in.

According to a Bernama report today there are almost 9,000 Malaysians registered with the consulate but unofficially there are 30,000 to 60,000 unregistered Malaysians living in New York.

Flights cancelled

As of this afternoon, Foreign Ministry officials at Wisma Putra, Kuala Lumpur, have been inundated with hundreds of phone calls from concerned relatives.

"Malaysians not working at the WTC are generally safe and so is the student population in New York City," said an unnamed official who also assured the safety of those in Washington DC.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines has cancelled all flights to New York City and Los Angeles today and tomorrow.

A MAS reservation personnel said the schedules for flights on Friday onwards are unaltered though subject to change depending on the situation.