Woman missing for two weeks found safe

War on terrorism: Victim

A young French woman, severely shocked by the suicide attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, was located in hospital by her family after being listed as missing for two weeks.

The woman, named as Alexandra Arnaud-Lepers, was in her apartment close to the twin towers when they collapsed. Although not phsically injured physically, Ms Arnuad-Lepers, who is in her late 20s, was taken to hospital suffering from extreme shock and failed to contact her family.

She was located on Monday last week, 13 days after the attack, when the French consulate in Paris circulated her description to all hospitals in the New York area. Her mother travelled from Toulon to New York last week to be reunited with the daughter she feared had died.

"The more days that passed, the more we were overcome with grief," her grandmother, Marie, told the newspaper Le Parisien. "Then we got a telephone call from the American consulate in Marseilles and we exploded with joy.

"On 11 September, she was in her apartment a couple of steps from the World Trade Centre. She saw everything, the flames, the falling bodies, the collapsing towers. She was brought out uninjured but severely psychologically shocked."

Ms Arnaud-Lepers' condition is said to have improved since her mother's arrival. She had been working in the New York fashion industry for two years.