THERE can be little doubt that Tuesday's tragic events in America left people across the world shocked and sickened.

The Citizen asked Blackpool people what they thought, and found the mood was clearly one of sadness and concern.

Norman Hardy, a 66-year-old retired local government officer from Marton said he was shocked anybody could do such a thing.

"We have to keep calm heads I think. No doubt the Americans will be doing their utmost to investigate it," he said.

Pensioner Olive Fisher, 83, visiting Blackpool from Manchester, feared violence could escalate and Britain become a target. "I just think it's awful," she said.

"I think it will be a long while before anything gets settled, but I really think the Americans will do something. Americans like to get their own back -- we are more laid back then they are."

Travel trade officer Luci Mercer from central Blackpool worked for a cruise line in America for ten years and was trying to contact friends and former colleagues via the Internet.

She said: "I've not heard anything so far. It's horrendous. I took my mum to the top of the World Trade Center two years ago for her 50th birthday. It's very frightening and I don't know what to expect."

The 37-year-old added: "I wouldn't like to be in Tony Blair's position now. You just have to take each day as it comes and hopefully our world leaders will make the right decisions and solve it peacefully."

Accountant Amit Khandelwal, 21, said his family in India and England had spent several worrying hours trying to contact one of his cousins who works in New York near the World Trade Center, before finding out he was okay. Lines to America and India had been jammed, he said.

He too feared an escalation of violence involving Britain, and an American recession. "It's shocking. Financially there will be massive suffering," he said.

And he added that whoever the terrorists claim to represent, they are in the minority. "People have got to remember that," he said.