£50m payout starts disaster victims

Nearly £50 million of relief fund money will start to be distributed to victims of the World Trade Center atrocity in the next few days.

The announcement was made as Russian president Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila walked amid the still-smouldering rubble of the New York tragedy, after three days of talks with President George Bush at his Texas ranch.

New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani said: "He was like so many others, shocked at the extent of the devastation, very upset about it and supportive of the United States and what we need to do to defend ourselves against terrorism."

Mr Giuliani then said the city hopes to send about £28 million from the Twin Towers Fund to families of World Trade Center victims by this weekend.

"I said I thought we would get the money to families before Thanksgiving [next Thursday]. I think we're going to get it to them this week."

Surviving spouses will get $75,000 (£52,000); $25,000 will go to children 23 and under; $10,000 for children over 23. If victims had no spouse or child, their parents will receive $50,000.

At the same time, Governor George Pataki said the state's World Trade Center Relief Fund established by his administration would distribute £21 million of its £24.5 million starting next week.

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